Stoneham Fire Department Acquires Dive Team Vehicle from Cambridge

$4,000 Interagency Purchase Allows Stoneham to Acquire its First Dedicated Vehicle for Dive Team Since its Founding in 1988

STONEHAM — Fire Chief Matthew Grafton is very pleased to report to the community that the Stoneham Fire Department has acquired the first-ever dedicated vehicle for Stoneham’s highly regarded dive team.

The Cambridge Fire Department recently posted an advertisement seeking to sell one of its aging heavy rescue trucks, a 1994 Ford CF8000. The truck is powered by a Cummins 8.3L diesel motor, and has only 24,086 original miles on it, with no rot or rust. The Cambridge Fire Department Dive Team previously used the truck, which had also served as a hazmat team truck and backup heavy rescue.

Stoneham Fire purchased the truck for $4,000. The truck comes with all the dive racks and gear storage built-in, and is currently having “Cambridge” changed to “Stoneham” on its lettering.

“This was a tremendous opportunity to acquire a ready-made dive truck with low miles for about half the cost of a single portable firefighter radio at today’s prices,” Chief Grafton said. “I want to thank the Cambridge Fire Department for making it available for sale, and I also want to thank and acknowledge Armstrong Ambulance Service, which has donated space to store our new Dive Truck at Armstrong’s Stoneham facility free of charge.”

The Stoneham Dive Team consists of nine Stoneham Firefighters and one Stoneham Police Officer who are all certified rescue divers who have completed countless of hours of dives. The team has deployed to many neighboring communities, and is responsible for numerous bodies of water in the area, including Spot Pond and the reservoirs at the Middlesex Fells. The majority of the team is certified in ice diving operations and conducts ice rescue training and has responded to numerous calls for people and even vehicles that have fallen through thin ice over its nearly 40-year history.

The Stoneham Dive Team was established in 1988 with a donation from the former Boston Regional Medical Center. The team has never has its own vehicle, and members have historically stored gear in the basement of the fire department and placed the equipment on other department vehicles or fire engines to transport their dive equipment. With gear now being preloaded into the truck, the team will be able to save minutes in their response. 

“In the current economy, with budget pressures being felt in many communities, including here in Stoneham, this is the only opportunity that would ever present itself to the dive team. It’s inefficient to have the equipment stored in other parts of the station and have to carry them into vehicles,” Chief Grafton said. “This is a creative, low-cost solution for our department. This Dive Truck will allow us to centralize our dive equipment and keep it ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

Stoneham Fire also wishes to thank and acknowledge MetroFire, the mutual aid coordination organization for 38 metropolitan Boston fire departments, of which Stoneham is a member. Chief Grafton became aware of the opportunity to purchase the dive truck thanks to an email notice sent to MetroFire member agencies.