Mayor's Office

Today the City of Madison announced that the first electric powered fire truck in North America is in service at Fire Station 8 right here in Madison. This incredibly advanced vehicle is the result of a partnership between the Madison Fire Department, City of Madison, Pierce Manufacturing and Oshkosh Airport Products. It’s called the Volterra.

I am delighted that Madison is on the cutting edge of delivering superior public safety and sustainably. The City of Madison has been a pioneer in adopting new technologies to minimize our carbon footprint. I’m grateful to everyone on Team City who made this possible, and to Pierce Manufacturing for choosing Madison to test this groundbreaking technology.

This vehicle was tailor made to serve the needs of our tireless Madison Fire Department as well as the needs of our environment, lowering carbon emissions today for a healthier tomorrow. MFD is working with Pierce to gather data on performance so Pierce can improve this technology and make it available to cities all across the country. Fire Chief Steve Davis says it has already been on a number of calls and it performs magnificently. The expertise of our firefighters who use the vehicle and our mechanics who maintain it will help determine future models. I look forward to a day where zero-emission machines like this are the standard on our streets.

Innovation like this is a critical part of my Climate Forward initiative to reduce GHG emissions here in Madison. We have to continue to identify every opportunity to reduce our impact on the climate – we have less than a decade to stop catastrophic climate change. Each and every one of us, every city agency, and every level of government must act with urgency.

It was great to be with Governor Evers, Chief Davis, Madison Gas & Electric CEO Jeff Keebler, Fleet Superintendent Mahanth Joishy and representatives from Pierce Corporation and Oshkosh Manufacturing today as we gathered to welcome the Volterra to Madison. I hope it is not too long before we have others like it.