County purchases new firetruck with grant funding

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The Columbia-Richland County Fire Department has a new firetruck, purchased with a Community Development Block Grant.

The fire department and county leaders celebrated the addition with a push-in ceremony for the new firetruck at the Capital View Station on Burdell Drive on Monday, guiding the truck into its bay at the station.  

Engine 30 was purchased for $430,866. It is the second firetruck Richland County has purchased through Community Development Block Grant funding. The first one was purchased in 2016.

“This is just another tool to help our firefighters do their job better,” Columbia-Richland County Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said in a news release.

Engine 30 will serve the area near Leesburg and Garners Ferry roads and the Lower Richland community, but it could be dispatched wherever it is needed.

District 11 Councilwoman Chakisse Newton and other county officials helped firefighters push the firetruck into its new home.

“Our firefighters and our fire services are extremely important to Richland County,” Newton said. “The work that these men and women do is really critical to our community, so we were excited to continue and extend the partnership that we have with the fire service.”