ELIZABETH TOWNSHIP - Elizabeth Township Fire Department now has a new rescue truck, thanks to a little ingenuity and a lot of elbow grease donated largely by the department's volunteer firefighters.

Earlier this year, the department purchased a 1993 Ford truck for $2,800 and then set about turning the truck into a rescue unit that can be used on emergency runs involving medical needs, such as extricating people trapped in car accidents, injured on lakes or injured and unable to move from remote areas.

"We had a smaller one and it just wore out," Fire Chief Dale Waugh said. "Then we found this one."

Waugh said $6,000 to $7,000 was spent on the retrofitting. That figure does not include the equipment the truck carries such as the Jaws of Life, Stokes baskets and medical kits.

"We bought it in January and started work on it in April. It was on the road by July and we've used it once already on an extrication," Waugh said.

Although the truck has a hookup for a four-wheeler, which can also be useful in rescuing people from remote areas, Waugh said his department doesn't have one of those yet, but could certainly put it to good use if anyone would like to donate an ATV for fire department use.