BENNINGTON — On Saturday, the Fire Department unveiled a state-of-the-art rescue truck dedicated to former volunteer and selectman Bruce Edes.

The event took place five years after Edes collapsed at the end of a 4.5-mile Halloween road race in Keene and died of heart failure at the age of 54.

“It certainly means an awful lot to the family,” said Edes’s son, Josh Edes, at the fire station Saturday.

According to Fire Chief Allan Wilson and Rescue Lieutenant Michael Hoiriis, Edes meant an awful lot to the department, too.

“He pretty much invented rescue for us,” said Hoiriis. The town’s first rescue vehicle, acquired and equipped under Edes’s guidance, was simply an old bread truck painted red, said Hoiriis.

“He dedicated his life to the rescue squad,” said Wilson. “He’d do anything for anybody.”

Of the decision to dedicate the new truck to Edes, Wilson said, “We thought it would be a long-lasting tribute.”

Edes was remembered Saturday as a kind and energetic coworker, neighbor, citizen and friend. He was serving as a selectman at the time of his death, volunteered as an emergency medical technician for both Bennington Fire and Rescue and Antrim Ambulance crews and danced with the Monadnock Mavericks. He was an avid hiker and member of the Bennington Conservation Commission and Appalachian Mountain Club.

As if it had been designed by Edes himself, the new rescue vehicle is a multipurpose machine with a taste for the rougher trails.

New equipment and storage options on the truck will shave many minutes off the rescue crew’s response time, said Hoiriis. The truck has removable floodlights, lit compartments, an on-board generator and dozens of outlets. Where previously the team would spend five to seven minutes unpacking and staging gear, on the new truck the Jaws of Life, tools and assorted equipment are immediately accessible. A heated compartment keeps medical equipment at appropriate temperatures for added safety and response speed. An onboard “office in a box” includes a rugged laptop, radio bay and two additional communication radios for three times the coordination.

Hoiriis said the cab itself can comfortably transport five responders, two more than the cramped front seat of the previous truck. The old rescue truck will be converted into a brush truck, which will improve brush response capabilities from the bed of an ordinary truck to a multi-compartment body.