Lisbon Volunteer Fire Department personnel from left, Lt. Mike Smith, Chief Mark Hall, Firefighter Nate Clark, Firefighter Justin Ash, Assistant Chief Gilbert Flory and Firefighter Benny Shetler pose with the village’s new 2023 Rescue 151 Pumper truck, which is now in service. The slightly used fire truck replaced a 2006 pumper. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

LISBON — The Lisbon Volunteer Fire Department unveiled its new fire truck this week, a 2023 Smeal Spartan Rescue Pumper now in service after village council agreed to the purchase in February.

“There’s a lot more storage in this truck,” Lisbon Fire Chief Mark Hall said while pointing out the features.

The used truck now known as the new Rescue 151 has a lot that the old 2006 pumper didn’t have, such as LED lighting, a backup camera, heated mirrors, an upgraded deck gun for hose and a seat release to account for air packs.

Some of the nicer features he described included an air horn button on the outside of the truck to signal for evacuation or communication, lights on the outside to monitor water level, 2 1/2-inch crosslays giving more room for storage of hoses, an automatic hose bed cover and LED scene lights on the outside of the truck.

The 500-gallon tank is less than the 1,000-gallon tank on the old truck, but Hall said there are plenty of fire hydrants to access in the village. There’s also just a four-man cab, while the old truck fit six. The newer truck has better suspension and more safety features.

The old pumper was a 2006 Hoyne and was starting to cost money for maintenance and repairs.

Campbell Signs in Calcutta did all the lettering on the new truck and some other items purchased were installed. Fire department personnel recently moved all the equipment from the old truck to the new truck to get it into service.

The truck cost $500,000, which Hall said was a good deal.

A brand new pumper would have cost close to $1 million. At a council meeting in February, Hall said this truck was purchased new and traded back in by another fire department that decided an aerial ladder truck was needed instead of a pumper. The truck was brought to Lisbon from Indiana and checked out by the department’s mechanic. The truck was purchased from Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus with levy funds. The company is headquartered in Alabama.

“I would like to thank the citizens of the village of Lisbon for supporting the levy, making it possible for us to purchase the truck,” Hall said.

He also thanked village council, especially Councilman Jerry Cox for the work he put into finding the truck.

Lisbon’s fire department fleet also includes a mini pumper/rescue squad and a command vehicle. The department also serves Elkrun and Center townships, with four township trucks, including two brush units, one pumper and one tanker.

The department includes 23 firefighters, including the chief, two assistant chiefs, two captains and three lieutenants.

Earlier this year, he shared some of the 2025 stats with village council, noting last year the village actually had more incidents overall than each of the townships. Lisbon’s number was 119, including one building fire, while Elkrun had 97 with seven building fires and Center had 108, with seven building fires.

For Lisbon, the largest kind of incidents were 15 alarm system activations, 12 aircraft standbys, eight medical assists, seven gas leaks, seven unintentional smoke detector activations and seven calls canceled en route. Elkrun had 18 motor vehicle accidents, 14 power lines down, 10 incidents not found at dispatch address, seven canceled calls en route and seven building fires. Center had 19 motor vehicle accidents, 11 medical assists, 10 power lines down and seven building fires.

Some of the different calls for Lisbon included one removal of a victim from a stalled elevator, one ring or jewelry removal, one vehicle fire and five carbon monoxide incidents.

Already in 2026, the department has had a major house fire and a motor vehicle accident which burned up two vehicles. Hall said the department has 100 calls to date for the village and two townships so far this year.

mgreier@mojonews.com