MOULTRIE — The Moultrie Fire Department is in desperate need of more firetrucks as a recent structure fire garnered the response of a firetruck without water pumping capabilities.

This should never have happened, Chief Jeff Thibodeau said.

A fire broke out at a home located at 106 WMTM Road midday on Jan. 20. Because of it its residents lost an adjacent property to the main home, the apartment where the residents’ son stayed.

“His place is a complete loss,” the resident, who did not want to be named, said. “He lost everything.”

The main home came out slightly scathed, needing a new roof and two new rooms, but according to the resident the fire department saved it overall. However, she said if they’d gotten here with a working pump more could’ve been saved.

She doesn’t blame them as she knew they were short on equipment.

“They did an excellent job, but they can only work within their means,” the resident said. “When they’re short of equipment and it’s not being bought, that’s not their fault. I feel like 70 to 80 percent of Colquitt County does not realize that.”

The fire department currently has three frontline trucks, but when one goes down there are no reserves to replace it. That was the problem during the structural problem at WMTM Road.

It was a freak occurrence when one of the 1998 frontline trucks needed a new transmission, Thibodeau said. The two on reserve at the time, an ’81 model and an ’84 model, weren’t up for the task.

“Within two weeks both went down. The pumps went out,” he said. “The trucks are probably only worth $1,000 or $2,000, and the pump’s $10,000 so it wasn’t worth fixing. We took one of those trucks, made it into a second rescue and that’s what they were on when they went to the structure fire.”

 The truck and its crew arrived on-scene first, doing all they could until a truck with a working pump could arrive.

“There were things that we could do, but there’s no water being sprayed until the truck gets there,” Thibodeau said. “When the second truck got there, they were ready to go. But that’s a terrible situation to be in.”

Never again, Thibodeau said. The chief went to the city council’s work session on Jan. 21 to vie for the department. Subsequently, the council approved the request to bid for a new reserve truck.

This truck would be a commercial cab unlike the custom-made truck that was approved in 2019. It’ll be built from the frame up starting with the frame, suspension, cab and box on the back.