Engine ordered, fire department looks at other needs in 2019

One of the Cheney Fire Department’s major accomplishments for 2018 was actually taken care of in October 2017.

That was when the City Council pulled the trigger on purchasing the department’s long-needed replacement for its main attack engine — agreeing to spend over $800,000 for the new pumper from Rosenbauer Fire Engines. The city applied $200,000 it had been saving from revenue collected via 2015’s levy lid lift along with taking out a $600,000, low-interest, 13-year loan — agreed to in June — from the Washington state Treasurer’s Office’s LOCAL fund to pay for the new engine.

While origina...