Natchez finally has its new fire truck.

And what a fire truck it is.

The state-of-the-art firefighting apparatus is equipped with several bells and whistles, and we’re not just referring to noisemakers.

Among the extra equipment are heat-seeking cameras, digital screens, adjustable jacks to raise and lower the vehicle, a ladder and the truck is equipped with its own pumping device.

The new truck is expected to help the city maintain its fire insurance rating of 5 and keep residents’ fire insurance premiums at affordable levels.

Best of all, however, the new truck will be a great benefit to keeping the city of Natchez with its historic houses and buildings secure, greatly improve firefighters’ abilities to fight fires and possibly save lives.

All of those benefits are well worth the $1 million investment.

Natchez Fire Chief Ventris Green recently said the new fire truck could have made fighting last year’s Prentiss Club Building fire much easier on fire personnel and could have lessened the damage to the building.

While we are hopeful the city will never have to use the new fire truck, we are thankful the city has it, and the reality is the city will need the fire truck sooner or later.

In that case, it was a wise investment and we are glad the city made such a great investment in protecting Natchez and its citizens.