Photo Provided The Lafferty Volunteer Fire Department’s newly purchased brush truck will help firefighters extinguish grass, vehicle and structure fires.

LAFFERTY — The Lafferty Volunteer Fire Department recently unveiled a new brush truck that will help firefighters battle blazes.

The department picked up the brand new $138,000 truck late last week. Assistant Chief Dustin Hudak said the multi-purpose response vehicle will help firefighters fight grass, vehicle and structure fires.

“We’re the only one that has one within about 150 miles of Lafferty. It’s a very different truck than anyone else around us has, and the things it can do are unbelievable,” he said.

The new truck will replace the department’s old brush truck, which Hudak said was due for an upgrade. The older model was only used for grass fires, he said.

The new truck provides more features and will help firefighters respond to a number of emergency situations.

The new truck holds 300 gallons of water and 5 gallons of extinguishing foam, has front bumper spray nozzles that are operational from inside the cab, and hoses on either side of the vehicle, he said.

“It has sprayers that come out of the front called bumper sprayers so we can drive through the edge of a fire and wet everything down to keep a brush fire from spreading. It has a front nozzle by the hood that we can operate from inside the cab. It also has two side seats on the bed … so we can spray a fire without getting out of the truck,” he said. “It also has a 100-foot attack line for fighting fire on each side of the truck as well.”

Although the department only responded to a few brush fires last year, Hudak said the truck will be used for so much more.

“It’s called a brush truck but it’s so much more of an all-around attack vehicle,” he said.

Firefighters will be able to arrive on the scene of a vehicle fire and extinguish a large portion of it before even exiting their vehicle, Hudak said. The truck will also be beneficial in a Hazmat situation, allowing firefighters to remain in the vehicle while dealing with the issue.

The truck also has four-wheel drive, which will allow them to access areas that other vehicles may not be able to reach.

“It’s a grass fire truck, it’s a vehicle fire truck, it’s a structure fire truck. We’re just calling it a brush truck because that’s mostly what it’s for, but we are going to be able to take it on any call and use it on anything we get,” he said.

On Monday, the truck’s radio was installed along with lettering on the sides of the vehicle.