Alna Fire Chief Mike Trask has cut the cost for a proposed new fire truck. He's saving $33,000 by swapping versions of one feature he wants the new truck to have.

That feature, a “compressed air foam system,” puts out fires faster than water alone; Trask had expected it to add $50,000 to the cost of the new truck.

But further study, ahead of town meeting on March 22, has led him to support a cheaper version of the same system. And money is just one of the reasons.

Only seven of the costlier version have been sold, making it a less proven product than one in wider use, Trask said March 5.

“I don't want us to be a guinea pig,” Trask said.

Trask maintains the revised proposal on the truck with the foam system is the best of three options voters will face. It would cost $295,000, compared to the second, $278,000 option to get the truck without the system.

In either case, Trask is proposing the town use the $163,000 it has saved up for a fire truck, and borrow the rest.

He's proposing a five-year loan with payments of $28,315 a year for a truck with the foam system, or $24,669 a year for one without it.

If residents reject both truck offers, Trask proposes they increase what they put into the truck fund, from the current $25,000 a year to $35,000.

Fire truck prices continue to rise, according to an informational flier Trask said residents will receive with this year’s town report.

“We think postponing a truck purchase is neither wise nor financially sound,” the flier states.

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