By Thomas J. Prohaska
Updated: February 11, 2012, 6:29 AM
LOCKPORT — The city’s new $490,000 fire truck needed major engine repairs because of an incident during the Jan. 27-28 tire fire.
Fire Chief Thomas J. Passuite said it cost $6,700 to repair the diesel engine after unleaded gasoline was poured into the fuel tank of the truck, which is less than a year old.
Mayor Michael W. Tucker said a Streets Department worker was at fault, but he was not disciplined. “It was just human error in the heat of the moment. We did a full investigation,” Tucker said.
The incident occurred when the worker was sent to Thrifty Oil, the city’s fuel vendor, to get more fuel during the overnight hours, as fire trucks were running low at the scene of the massive blaze at Liberty Tire Recycling on Ohio Street.
The worker was driving a city pickup truck with a 50-gallon fuel tank in the bed. Tucker said the tank is divided in two, with half labeled “unleaded” and the other half “diesel.”
The worker pumped some unleaded gas into the diesel tank, apparently realized his mistake and filled the tank the rest of the way with diesel.
Passuite said the new truck took all 50 gallons of the resulting mixture.
“It shut down. It overheated. It just died,” Passuite said.
Every Fire Department vehicle runs on diesel. “We had all the rest of our vehicles examined,” Passuite said. No other problems were found.
Norman D. Allen, city director of engineering and public works, said the city cleaned out the fuel tank on the pickup truck and installed brighter lettering for the diesel and unleaded halves.
Once again, it comes as no surprise that this Mayor has no intention ot interest in protecting the City. While I agree that this is an unfortunate mistake and likely done without malice, the fact is that there should be some type of discplinary action taken. We had a vehicle put out of commission risking lives and property in the City, we have a repair bill for $6,700.00 on a new truck, all the result of human error and the subsequent attempt to cover it up. Yes, we all screw up some times, but to not take responsibilty from the very start deserves disciplinary action (unless you're liked by the Mayor of course).
Fire Chief Thomas J. Passuite said it cost $6,700 to repair the diesel engine after unleaded gasoline was poured into the fuel tank of the truck, which is less than a year old.
Mayor Michael W. Tucker said a Streets Department worker was at fault, but he was not disciplined. “It was just human error in the heat of the moment. We did a full investigation,” Tucker said.
The incident occurred when the worker was sent to Thrifty Oil, the city’s fuel vendor, to get more fuel during the overnight hours, as fire trucks were running low at the scene of the massive blaze at Liberty Tire Recycling on Ohio Street.
The worker was driving a city pickup truck with a 50-gallon fuel tank in the bed. Tucker said the tank is divided in two, with half labeled “unleaded” and the other half “diesel.”
The worker pumped some unleaded gas into the diesel tank, apparently realized his mistake and filled the tank the rest of the way with diesel.
Passuite said the new truck took all 50 gallons of the resulting mixture.
“It shut down. It overheated. It just died,” Passuite said.
Every Fire Department vehicle runs on diesel. “We had all the rest of our vehicles examined,” Passuite said. No other problems were found.
Norman D. Allen, city director of engineering and public works, said the city cleaned out the fuel tank on the pickup truck and installed brighter lettering for the diesel and unleaded halves.
Once again, it comes as no surprise that this Mayor has no intention ot interest in protecting the City. While I agree that this is an unfortunate mistake and likely done without malice, the fact is that there should be some type of discplinary action taken. We had a vehicle put out of commission risking lives and property in the City, we have a repair bill for $6,700.00 on a new truck, all the result of human error and the subsequent attempt to cover it up. Yes, we all screw up some times, but to not take responsibilty from the very start deserves disciplinary action (unless you're liked by the Mayor of course).
The biggest "human error" related to this entire mess is the over-all poor management of the City's resources. I don't want the worker fired, but he should be "written-up".
ReplyDelete$6,700 repair bill....no problem
Maybe he should be forcced to go door to door and give every taxpayer 25 cent, just for being a jackass.
The worker was probably someone that is connected. Do you really think he is going to get written up, if its the mayors friend. Its the way it works. Nothing changes.
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