Students at Northern Maine Community College and a local fire department are both benefitting from a partnership they've entered into.

The department is saving thousands of dollars, with the students profitting through practical learning.

These Northern Maine Community College students have a pretty cool
opportunity to rebuild the engine on a ladder truck. How it got into
their hands was a rather rare happening for their class, but definitely a
benefit to them and the Aroostook Fire Protection District

"About a year ago," began Paul Durepo, Fire Chief of Aroostook Fire Protection District, "our ladder that we share with Fort Fairfield and Limestone no longer would pass inspection because of rust on the super structure underneath the aerial ladder."

Chief Durepo ended up without a ladder truck for a year, until this
truck was driven up from Watervillett, New York. On the way up, it broke
down and had to be hauled the rest of the way. Service cost on the engine was estimated to be about $16,000, but luckily, Diesel Hydraulic Instructor Robert Rice at NMCC offered his service instead.

"So our total cost of rebuilding this engine is going to be $5,000
dollars, and this is a 1.1 million dollar truck when it's brand new," Durepo said.

So this ladder truck was brought in as a great project for the diesel
hydraulic technology students to work on, and it's also a savings of about $11,000 in service cost on the engine.

"Diesel covers marine, bio-generation in the trucking industry, commercial and specialties so this definitely is a learning advantage for the students to see the whole realm of the field that they're going into," Rice commented.

Especially for Hydraulic Technology students like Chris Haas who is also
a volunteer at the Presque Isle Fire Department. "It's actually really cool because just being able to work on the truck, it's helping me stay more interested in being a firefighter, getting to see how
everything works how it's tied in together."

The $5,000 being spent will cover all the parts to rebuild
the engine and Instructor Rice says the truck will be ready to run by
Christmas.

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