New rescue truck gets traditional initiation
MVFC volunteers and board members push the department's new rescue truck into the station.
The Marlboro Volunteer Fire Company (MVFC) officially put its new rescue truck, a 2025 Ford F350, into service on October 14 with a traditional fire service “Push-In” ceremony. The truck cost a fraction of a conventional rescue vehicle and improves the department’s response across its rural coverage area.
The department’s previous rescue truck had become increasingly unreliable, including stalling on Route 9. A new replacement rescue vehicle would have cost upward of $250,000, and comparable used rescue trucks were listed at around $150,000. Instead, Fire Chief Dan Elliott and the MVFC board purchased a well-equipped 2025 Ford F350 from Ford of Claremont, NH, for $67,000 and received a $4,000 trade-in on the old vehicle. With outfitting that included emergency lights, a siren, a roll-out tray bed, a cap, and graphics identifying it as a rescue vehicle, the total came to approximately $78,000. Chief Elliott commended Ford of Claremont for being responsive and helpful throughout the switchover.
While the F350 is more compact, allowing for better navigation in driveways and back roads, the department has given up nothing in the switch. The replacement vehicle doesn’t require a special driver’s license, so more volunteers are qualified to drive it, and the extended cab allows for five volunteers to ride at once, instead of the two-person capacity of the old vehicle.
The extended cab also gives people involved in an incident a warm, safe place to sit, a comfort the old truck could not offer. And because the F350 runs on gasoline rather than diesel, the department expects lower fuel costs.
The October 14 Push-In marked the truck’s official arrival. When a new apparatus joins the fleet, volunteers, board members, and friends of the department back the truck into the station by hand, ushering in good luck for the years ahead. The tradition dates to the era of horse-drawn fire engines. Because horses generally do not back up any real distance, firefighters would unhitch them and push the engine into the bay facing outward, ready for a quick hitch-up when the next fire call came. The Marlboro Volunteer Fire Company is an all-volunteer fire and rescue department that has served the town since 1948. There are approximately 17 active volunteers and the department responded to 175 calls in the last fiscal year.
