The Onset Fire Department has been awarded $271,000 to purchase a new tanker truck through a federal grant program.

“We’re glad we were able to secure funding for the grant,” said Captain Howard Andersen who helped write the grant proposal alongside Captain Jeff Dias. “The taxpayers will benefit, but they won’t have to pay for most of it.”

While most of the funds for the new truck are coming from the Federal Emergency Management Agency the Onset Fire Department contributed $13,000.

The new truck will go into service in early 2018, replacing the current 1983 AM General the department currently uses to battle brush fires and provide additional support where water is not readily available.

“Often, the first five minutes will determine how the next five hours go at an incident,” said Onset Fire Chief Ray Goodwin. “This new truck will expand our response capabilities.”

The current truck was purchased in 2006 as part of a federal government excess property program. Originally a military vehicle, it was repurposed for the fire department. While the current one holds 1,200 gallons of water and can pump out 350 gallons per minute the new one will hold 1,800 gallons and pump out 1,250 gallons of water per minute, said Goodwin.

“For our purposes, it’s a more useful, safer piece of equipment,” said Goodwin.

He noted that the tanker truck has four-wheel drive and is used during snowstorms to get around town.

In addition to Andersen and Dias, Goodwin credited U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey and U.S. Representative Bill Keating for assisting with the grant.