Allardt has been awarded an estimated $390,000 Community Development Block Grant to purchase a new pumper truck for the volunteer fire department.
Allardt Fire Chief Larry Cooper said the new truck is a 2026 Kenworth model. Cooper said the grant will allow them to replace a 24-year-old truck.
“The City of Allardt is just a small town in Northeast Tennessee, and without these grants its hard for rural cities and counties to be able to replace worn-out equipment,” Cooper said. “This is just a godsend for the city.”
Cooper said the truck cost an estimated $450,000, with the city providing the remaining funds. Cooper said the new truck is top of the line.
“For this pumper truck, it’s going to have a 1,000-gallon tank on it, a twelve fifty pump, it’s basically a standard pumper truck that most departments have,” Cooper said. “We do typically get a bigger gallon size on it for the rural water supply for up here in this area. So a lot of people do 500-750 gallon tanks, and this one has actually got a 1,000 gallon tank on it, which helps us to provide water service to some of the different outline fire departments.”
Cooper said once he gets the call to pick up the truck, he will be off to pick up the truck as soon as possible.
“The truck is done,” Cooper said. “They got it done ahead of schedule, probably about four months. We are waiting with the government shutdown and some things that happened in Washington, it did tie some things up a bit at the state level, and we are waiting for the funds to be released to the City of Allardt so we can actually purchase the truck.”
Cooper said he thanks Amanda Mainord, Allardt Mayor Yvonne M. Gernt, and the city’s aldermen for allowing the department to purchase the new truck.