Pumper truck named best in state

By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo

Countless hours were spent polishing the 1985 GMC Pierce for the competition.

The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) participated in the Connecticut State Firefighter’s Association Annual Convention and Parade in September and won the trophy for Best Appearing Commercial Pumper for 2007.

Not bad for a 22-year old truck. NVFD’s pumper, a 1985 GMC Pierce, was worked on for countless hours by a dedicated crew of fire department members led by Lt. Tyler Marchi. After much cleaning and polishing of “Engine 90”, the members participated in 13 Parades over the course of the summer and won six trophies leading up to the state convention and parade hosted in West Haven, CT.

The four-wheel drive truck is a work horse for the department, which has a 500-gallon water tank and a pump that can move up to 1,000 gallons of water per minute to a fire. The truck also carries 2,000 feet of four-inch fire hose.

Lt. Marchi said the age of the truck was a major factor in the amount of prep work involved with getting the truck ready for competition. “Cleaning the diamond plate on the truck took the most work, followed by re-packing half a mile of hose before each parade. In order to win trophies at a firefighter’s parade, a truck needs to be spotless and have all the little details taken care of,” Marchi said.

These details included the cleaning and painting of the entire undercarriage of the truck: springs, axle and brake lines. “The judges will take points away if they see any dirt or grease anywhere on the truck and because our engine is so large, it’s easy for the judges to see everything.”

Photos by Jon Barbagallo.