The Somerville Volunteer Fire Department is holding a ceremony Saturday, June 14 to dedicate the town’s newest fire truck to a founding member of the department who died in a fire in January 2013, and to recognize the man’s family, which paid for the truck.
Cecil Brann, 92, died when his farmhouse on Crummett Mountain Road in Somerville burned down Jan. 24, 2013.
Fire departments from a number of area towns responded to fight the blaze that afternoon and got more than they bargained for, working in frigid temperatures and bitter winds long into the night before having give up and return to the scene the next morning.
Trucks and other equipment were icing up in the cold, damaging two of Somerville’s fire trucks, according to Somerville Fire Chief Mike Dostie.
Brann’s family offered to pay for the repairs to the trucks but the department declined because insurance would cover the costs, Dostie said. When the family got wind that one of the trucks was unrepairable and needed to be replaced, they were able to find out the $14,000 price of the truck the department planned to buy and cut a check for the full amount, he said.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Dostie said.
The new truck is a used pumper-tanker from Wells, with a 1000-gallon tank, a 1250-gallon-per-minute pump and a four-seater cab, Dostie said, an upgrade on all fronts from the 500-gallon tank, 1000-gallon-per-minute pump, and two-seater cab the old truck had.
“It’s a beautiful truck,” he said.
The ceremony is scheduled for noon on Saturday, June 14 at the Somerville Fire Station.
