Natasha Vaughn is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the city of Hudson will take delivery in late August of a new $1.3 million tower ladder truck. The new vehicle will replace a 20-year-old KME Aerial Cat truck the department currently uses. “All the guys are excited for the new apparatus coming in. We look forward to it serving the city for years to come,” Second Assistant Fire Chief Nick Pierro said. “We appreciate the city’s backing and all the help that they’ve given us and their help buying the new apparatus.” The new truck has a 100-foot aluminum ladder with a platform, a 600-horsepower engine, an eight-man cab, a 300-gallon water tank and lots of storage for ground ladders and tools. “It’s definitely exciting for our department,” Mayor Kamal Johnson said. The truck purchase was approved by the city in December 2019. Roughly $350,000 of the $1.3 million purchase price comes from the department's truck reserve fund. The remainder, Johnson said, is financed with a bond. The truck was commissioned through a local E-One dealer, Premier Fire Apparatus Inc., of Lake Katrine, and then built at E-One’s facility in Ocala, Florida. Pierro said a fire truck generally lasts 20 years. The fire department has four trucks and one is replaced every five years. Once the new tower ladder truck is completed, five members of the department will be trained how to operate it by an E-One representative. Note: Johnson is a volunteer WGXC on-air programmer. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.