NATCHEZ — Natchez aldermen approved spending $919,000 Tuesday for the purchase of a ladder fire truck to replace an out-of-date truck that left the city on the brink of earning a degraded insurance rating.

Interim Fire Chief Ventris Green said the truck would be custom built and would be purchased from Ferrara Fire Apparatus. Green said the truck would be in use in approximately six months.

The board unanimously approved purchase of the truck Oct. 9 through a $750,000 cap loan and a $350,000 conventional finance loan.

Green said the truck’s ladder would be approximately 78 feet, which would allow increased usage and easier access to some areas. Green said the truck would be equipped with technology that includes a thermal imaging camera and a remote control ladder.

Green said the purchase should keep residents’ fire insurance premiums level by allowing the city to maintain its current fire insurance rating of 5. Several months ago the city was warned that if it didn’t purchase a new truck the rating would be degraded, a move that would have likely raised insurance rates for property owners.