A city fire engine will be out of commission for a few days after it caught fire Thursday night, according to the fire officials.

There were no reported injuries.

Fire Chief Ray Senecal said Friday that the three firefighters had just returned from a fire call at 9 p.m. and were in front of Fire Station #4 at Avenue A and Nott Street when they noticed an orange glow coming from the undercarriage of the rig.

The crew managed to put out the fire with a dry powder extinguisher and drove it to the county garage for repairs.

"We're not alarmed by it," said Senecal.

Assistant Fire Chief Michael Gillespie said it appears an electrical problem sparked the small fire, which caused minimal damage to the truck.

"It's not unusual," he said. "It happens from time to time."

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Electrical-problem-sparks-minor-fire-to-5256317.php

Well it's the first time I ever heard of it happening. At least they were able to put it out. How embarrassing would it be to have a fire truck burn up?

Quoted from Madam X

Well it's the first time I ever heard of it happening. At least they were able to put it out. How embarrassing would it be to have a fire truck burn up?

not very embarrassing....it's just a vehicle.....how old was it? what was the protocol for 'checks'? and even if there were
checks it doesn't rule out the fact that 'human machines actually do fail'....aka insurance is almost fraudulent in it's
sales pitch....JMHO

The city doesn't repair it's own vehicles?

It might be just a vehicle, but There would have been a big SCHENECTADY headline over a picture of a flaming truck, if it went up. I'm not sure why leased fire trucks should catch fire from time to time, I thought we leased our trucks now to avoid having old vehicles.