New London — The New London Fire Department has a new truck. Again.

It turns out the truck purchased by the department in 2019 was a $1.265 million lemon that has given department personnel headaches and was out of commission on multiple occasions ever since it came into service in May 2020.

That was a problem, said fire Chief Thomas Curcio, who said the truck is a front-line vehicle that gets plenty of use and needs to be reliable. Not to mention it was expensive.

The 100-foot aerial tower — the ladder can reach 100 feet — is a 2019 model produced by Wisconsin-based Pierce Manufacturing and was purchased through Firematic Supply Company in Rocky Hill. The city bought it as a demo and it had been used as a try-out truck by other departments. The truck came at a lower cost and was received months quicker than a new purchase would have been. It can take a year to build a truck to a department’s specifications.

At the time, speed in delivery was needed. The department’s previous Engine 2 went out of service for a time in November 2019 due to damage sustained in response to a fire and the city has searched for a replacement, relying at times on Waterford and other surrounding departments to respond to the city’s fire calls.

Curcio said Firematic had been responsive in sending out mechanics to perform repairs in the months that followed delivery of the new truck. On more than one occasion, however, it was taken out of service for things like problems with the ladder or stabilizers retracting, mostly connected to the electrical system.

“Something needed to be done. We were afraid it wasn’t going to be reliable at the fire scene, and I couldn’t see keeping this around for the next 20 years,” Curcio said.

The department was forced to put its older truck back into service for fire calls, a 2007 Seagrave 100-foot ladder tiller. It’s called a tiller because the rear portion steers independently of the front. That truck has kept city mechanics busy through the years and was, and still is, supposed to be a backup truck.

Curcio was persistent is his calls for a new truck. The truck has a warranty that covers repairs but not a full replacement.

The persistence paid off in January, when Firematic confirmed that Pierce had agreed to a full replacement: a newer and more expensive 2021 model truck that is similar but with upgrades. Curcio said he was “pleasantly shocked.”

The truck was delivered at the end of May and awaits outfitting and some additional training by firefighters.

While Curcio credits Pierce and Firematic with standing by their product, New London Chief Administrative Officer Steve Fields credits Curcio for finding a way to avoid potential additional costs to taxpayers.

“I am proud and pleased with the chief in his efforts in this matter,” Fields said.

Both trucks are located in the department’s south station on Lower Boulevard. Curcio said he expects the new truck to be in service by next month.

g.smith@theday.com