SUBLETTE – Thinking about how to stop a fire or how to rectify a situation is what’s usually on the mind of a member of the Sublette Fire Department.

However, recently, the thinking caps were used in a different direction, financially, as the department made moves to bring in a new fire prevention apparatus.

“We replaced our 2000 engine with a pumper tanker. Essentially, we moved two trucks into one. We got rid of both a tender and an engine this year,” said Sublette Fire Department Assistant Chief Nick Dinges. “It’s kind of nice; Compton got our used engine and Walnut got our used tender.

“We felt to be fiscally responsible to the district, combining two vehicles into one made a lot of sense. It was the decision of the Sublette Fire Department Board of Directors. We were lucky enough to get a demo fire engine from Iowa.

“It was coming offline and the timing was just right. It made sense for us to do this.”

The selling of the two used vehicles covered 50 percent of the nearly $450,000 price tag hanging from the new pumper tank, which was picked up in Iowa.

“With fire trucks approaching the $1 million mark, it’s almost unattainable for small departments like Sublette,” Dinges said. “We had to look at a way to be fiscally responsible, so we went with a commercial chassis. We felt that would do a lot for our district.

“A lot of times we’re responding with 4-6 people on the first-out fire engine, but we always need water. This new one, which will be our second truck, has 3,000 gallons.

“Between our first two trucks, we’ll have 4,000 gallons of water. When the third comes, our actual tender, we’ll have 7,500 gallons of water immediately. If we don’t get a fire knocked down with that then we have some big problems.”

The Sublette Fire Department hopes to have the new vehicle in service and hitting the streets by June after a few hoses, nozzles and decals come in and are applied to the pumper tanker.

Of course, the Sublette Fire Department patch will be included.