By Bonnie Culverhouse
City of Minden may be purchasing a new fire engine to replace one that is 20 years old.
Fire Chief Brian Williams told Minden City Council members last week there is a need for a new engine to replace Engine 1.
“The truck we have now runs every call in the City of Minden and every out of town call,” Williams said. “The truck we have now is 20 years old, and we are spending thousands of dollars in maintenance on it.
“Lately, we’ve had problems with brakes, one of them had an engine issue, an exhaust issue, a pump issue on one and a rear end went out on one of them,” he continued. “One day we had two trucks out at the same time.”
Williams said a new fire truck ordered today would take 810 days for delivery.
“That’s almost two and a half years to take delivery of it,” he added. “Cost is expected to be anywhere from $900,000 to one million.”
And, according to the chief, it is not an elaborate truck.
“A truck just like this (the one Williams is quoting) in 2014 was $430,000,” he said. “That truck today is worth $850,000. Same truck; no bells and whistles.”
Williams said he has a strategic plan in place.
“We purchase a truck every 10 years on a lease/purchase,” he said. “So when Engine 1 goes to Station 3 for its second 10 years of life, we can keep a truck for 30 years.”
Williams said he would like to order the truck “soon.”
“We put together a committee of every shiftof firefighters, myself and Chief Chreene,” he said. “We’ve been working on the specs for it, and we have 80 pages of specs for this truck. We’ve been working on it for two and a half months.”
Williams said he will have more information for the council at the June workshop.
“We just finished finalized the specs, so we will have a drawing and costs to present next month,” he said. “My plan is to bring the salesman here to answer any questions about ordering it and what that process is because if we wait until later to get this truck, the cost keeps increasing especially with the cost of steel going up.”
He said the specs are for firefighter safety.
“Lower hose beds where they’re not climbing up on the trucks so far, front bumper trash line instead of pulling hoses off the side of the truck,” he said. “Especially, we’re working in a live lane of traffic.”
Williams said he has a plan to pay for the engine.
“When the truck comes in, the money we have allocated to pay for the rescue truck and air packs will go toward this new truck,” Williams said. “So all that money we already have in lease/purchases in the normal budget for the fire department will roll into the new truck.”
The fire department has a similarly equipped truck that is even older than Engine 1. Williams said Engine 3 is 26 years old.
“Engine 5 is 16 years old,” said the chief. “Whenever we have a truck go down, it is our reserve truck. But it does not have the capabilities that 1 and 3 have.”
Once the new truck is purchased, Williams hopes to sell Engine 5, take those funds and put it toward the new truck.
Minden Mayor Nick Cox said the cost was the first thing that went through his mind, however, he appreciates Williams’ forethought.
“When you lay out the plan, it makes sense,” Cox said. “The fact that we are having a lot of wear on the trucks we have – the bottom line is we have to have fire trucks.”
Cox said the request will be discussed when budget workshops begin in a few weeks.