Kunkletown Volunteer Fire Company had its new tanker on display during the Eldred Township’s recent meeting.

Fire Chief Brian Stankovich said the new truck arrived in early July and was put into service a couple of weeks later. It’s a 2026 Freightliner tanker built by Four Guys Fire Equipment in Myersdale and can hold 3,000 gallons of water.

In an interview after the meeting, Stankovich said the fire company has never had a tanker, and this one can actually be used “to pick up the slack.”

“Its primary response is to haul water, but we have hose on it; we have ladders; we have tools; we have two air packs in here,” he said. “It’s like a fire engine. It has all the same stuff.”

Stankovich explained that the tanker has everything that one or two people need for an initial response to an emergency, until more fire personnel can show up.

The new tanker took three years to design and build and cost about $650,000.

It also has a 35-gallon capacity, collapsible pool that is stored on the side of the tanker in its own compartment.

The tanker has a feature that lowers the pool to make it easily accessible to the firefighters.

By having the pool, firefighters can fill it from the tanker and go back for more water, Stankovich said. That increases the amount of water accessible to firefighters.