Maine City Bans Errand-Running Fire Trucks

Maine City Bans Errand-Running Fire Trucks

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July 19--AUBURN -- City Councilors agreed Monday that most of the problems they'd heard about concerning firefighters using trucks to run errands had stopped since the matter became public.

Police Chief Phil Crowell said the new policy is for firefighters to use other vehicles -- including a pickup truck, fire inspection vehicle and a truck loaned from the police department -- to run errands.

"The old policy was, if they were out on a call or coming back from an inspection, they could stop at the store," Crowell said. "That's how we did it for years."

That policy became an issue during budget discussions. Councilors Dan Herrick and Mike Farrell said they'd heard numerous complaints from residents who had seen firetrucks at local markets, hardware stores and ice cream shops. It came to a head when Farrell followed a fire truck driving around southern Auburn and made a video recording of it and posted it to YouTube.

http://www.firehouse.com/news/top-headlines/maine-city-bans-errand-running-fire-trucks