City fuel trucks

City adds fuel truck fleet on the cheap
— reported by KHOU CBS Channel 11

Remember all the gas shortages when millions of people left Houston before Hurricane Rita hit?

 

Houston officials worried about their own emergency vehicles.

 

Now, city officials are looking ahead to the next big storm and have cut a money-saving deal after learning the lessons of Rita.

The traffic during the days before Hurricane Rita taught everybody a lesson.

 

While evacuees worried about getting out of town, city government officials worried about getting gas to all its police cars, fire engines and city vehicles.

 

[snip]

 

“All we paid was the $500 administrative fee,” said Bowker, which as $500. “They [normally] run around, these trucks run $89,000 to $90,000 a piece. Those trailers are around $20,000 to $25,000 a piece.”

 

So Houston got more than a half-million dollars worth of gasoline tankers for about $7,500.

 

The city figures it’ll spend about $2,000 each getting them ready for the next disaster.

1. KHOU CBS Channel 11 requires a free registration.

Author: Paloma Cruz

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