Clyde River (Mar 10/03) - The residents of Clyde River feel safer now that the community has a new fire truck.

It arrived early in the morning on Feb. 28 on a Hercules aircraft.

The Hercules has a maximum take-off weight of almost 70,000 kilograms and is the biggest plane to land on Clyde River's airstrip.

The old fire truck was lost on Jan. 11 when the fire hall went up in flames.

"We're very happy the truck is here. Everything went okay, though, there were no fires," said fire chief Loassie Tassugat.

Clyde River firefighters lost their hall, their truck and all of their gear in the fire. Panniqtuuq has lent the community some spare turnout gear for the time being.

Tassugat said new equipment is on order and it should be arriving in the community soon.

There's only one other item that still needs to be replaced and that's one of the community's water trucks.

It was also extensively damaged in the January fire.

Mayor Sandy Kautuq said he's very happy with the way the community has pulled together.

"We've been very fortunate as a hamlet. We've hardly gotten any complaints about water supply," said Kautuq.

He said with two trucks, the drivers would complete their circuits in about eight hours during the day.

With only one truck, one driver works eight hours during the day and another works eight hours in the evening.

When the community will get its new water truck depends on the schedule of the Hercules, possible late March or early April.

All municipal trucks including the fire truck will be stored at the hamlet garage until the next sealift season when the new fire hall can be built.