OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — It appears Oil City will not need a new fire engine after all.

[Photo: Two Oil City firefighters were promoted Thursday. Dennis Cherish (left) was promoted to Lieutenant and Derek Long (right) was promoted to Captain. They are pictured with Oil City Fire Chief Mark Hicks (center)]

Two weeks ago, Oil City fire chief Mark Hicks told the Oil City Council that he had to pull fire engine No. 2 out of service because it had rusted out and looked unfixable.

But, after that information came to light, a couple of local organizations stepped to the forefront, and it turns out the truck appears to be able to be fixed.

The PNA (Polish National Alliance) Club in Oil City contacted the fire department and suggested it contact Barrett’s Welding (Barrett’s Custom Wrought Iron) in Oil City and that they (the PNA Club) would cover the cost of fixing the truck if it could be fixed.

After Barrett’s took a look at the truck, which is a 1987 model, the company believes the truck can be fixed.

“The frame is intact,” Hicks said. “What needs to be fixed is a piece of plate steel between the frame of the chassis and the body of the truck.”

According to Hicks, Barrett’s will fix the truck Friday, May 11, and the department will also fix some of the rusted spots on the truck.

“Hopefully, we can get it back in service and you can forget everything I talked about two weeks ago,” Hicks said.

Two weeks ago, Hicks told council its options were limited in regards to the truck and replacing it. At the time, he presented four options including one that he knew would be unpopular with the city’s residents — closing the North Side Fire Station. In addition, he also presented the council with an option to buy a new truck at over $300,000.00, which isn’t in the city’s budget, to buy a used truck from Emlenton at a cost of $35,000.00, or eliminate the engine altogether.

Hicks is very happy; it appears the department can keep the current truck in service.

“It is the best engine we have ever had,” Hicks said. “It was also the first engine I was on, so there is sentimental value attached as well. With this fix, we should be able to get another three, four or five years out of the truck.”

Hicks said he wasn’t yet aware what the cost of fixing the engine would be.

FIREFIGHTERS PROMOTED

In additional news regarding the fire department, a pair of firefighters were officially promoted at Thursday’s council meeting.

Derek Long was promoted to captain, a position he has been acting in since Hicks took over as fire chief in early 2017, and Dennis Cherish was promoted to Lieutenant.

“I am happy to have both of these men as leaders in the department,” Hicks said.

BRIDGE PARTY UPDATE

Kay Woods gave an updated on the bridge party that the Arts Council is hoping to throw on August 17 on the Veteran’s Bridge. She said PennDOT and the LCB need her to show proof that the city has approved the party. That proof needs to be in the form of a resolution, so the council voted to instruct solicitor Robert Varsek to write a resolution that they can bring to the next meeting.

Woods said right now everyone wants permission from someone else before they will give her permission to hold the party.

She did say that Hicks and Police Chief Robert Wenner asked if the vendors could be on the sides of the bridges leaving open a lane for emergency vehicles down the middle in the event that was needed, which she said wasn’t a problem.

Gustafson again expressed concerns that Friday nights are a busy time to have the bridge closed — the bridge would be closed at approximately 2:00 p.m. and remain closed until 11:00 p.m. or midnight — but, he understands that Woods needed it to be that day because of a band booking.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business the council:

• Received a letter from the Venango County Regional Planning Commission concerning the Webco Rezoning request with the Planning Commission. The letter stated that it is the Commission’s policy to defer decision-making to the local officials and planning agencies as much as possible. In addition, it concurs with the Oil City Planning Commission in its recommendation that the City Council approves the request for rezoning.
• Approved a request from the 55+ softball league to use the Mitchell Avenue Softball Fields every Monday and Wednesday from the first Wednesday in May (May 2) through its last game August 29. The league’s games usually begin at 8:00 a.m. and are completed by noon. The league has used the fields for this purpose for the last 12 years.
• Approved a request from the Hasson Heights Community Church to hold a Music on the Hill 5K Race on August 25. The race will begin at the church and move through the Oliver Manor area.

The next council meeting will take place at 4:30 p.m. on May 24 in the council chambers at the city building.