Fire truck, with back seat driver
KINGSTON – The City of Kingston’s new almost $1 million fire truck that is on order will include a tiller – a driver in the back as well as one in the front.
That may have been a concept that faded in the City of Middletown a year
or so ago when the city scrapped its 20-year-old tiller truck because
of the cost of repairs and the need for more paid personnel to operate
it than a one-driver truck.
Kingston Mayor Steven Noble said the two-driver truck has been an institution in his city.
“We have had a tiller for over 100 years,” Noble said. “Whether it is a tiller or a pumper or one of our rescue trucks, we have always had the same number of staff per truck. So, whether they were sitting next to each other in the cab or one sat up front and one sat in the back, there was no issue for us.”
Both Kingston and Middletown have hybrid fire departments with paid drivers and volunteer firefighters.
