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Fire vehicle needs mount, as does price tag

OBSERVER Photo by Nicole Gugino Dunkirk Fire Chief Michael Edwards alerted the finance committee to the department’s needs for apparatus recently.

Every day the Dunkirk Fire Department receives multiple calls for help, fire and emergency personnel need the equipment to keep up with the life-saving task.

Dunkirk Fire Chief Michael Edwards attended the finance committee meeting recently to let council members know about the impending vehicle needs of the department.

Edwards said one of his priorities as chief has been to try to keep a replacement schedule for the department’s vehicles. As part of that schedule, the department is in need of an ambulance — soon.

“Right now in our fleet we have two ambulances; one is a 2001 ambulance and the other is a 2010. The 2001 ambulance has definitely seen its lifetime. We have some issues with it. It’s still a working ambulance … and it’s not a crisis right now, but it definitely needs to be replaced,” Edwards explained. “This is our secondary vehicle, our backup, but what you have to remember from our annual report is about 23 percent of our calls are overlapping. … The 2010 ambulance at this time is starting to show some wear. This ambulance responds to all calls, that’s around 2,000 calls or more per year. … It’s very important that we move it into second position and replace it, that way we can get another eight years of service out of this vehicle. Without doing that, within two or three years from now we’ll have to buy two ambulances because they’re both going to be shot.”

The paid ambulance service brings in revenues of about $150,000 each year, which happens to be the estimated cost of a new ambulance. Councilman-at-Large Andy Woloszyn pointed out, despite being deposited into a separate bank account, the revenues are counted toward the undesignated general fund and the ambulance was not budgeted for in 2018, this year’s $150,000 has already been anticipated to cover other expenses.

Mayor Willie Rosas encouraged moving forward with the process for specifications in anticipation of budget discussions in September.

While the ambulance seemed like a feasible purchase for delivery in the first quarter of 2019, Edwards said the department is in need of a much pricier apparatus — a ladder truck.

Edwards said the city’s truck is 30 years old, the longest the department has held on to a ladder truck.

“We have to sit down and make a decision on what we’re going to do with the ladder truck.

“It would make a lot of sense to me — not that, you know, we’ve got this amount of money and we’ve got to spend it, that’s not what I’m saying at all; this is whether we have that amount of money or not — that ladder truck has to be replaced. It will take two years from the time we order it to have it delivered. That truck is 30 years old. The other ladder truck was 20 years old when we had it replaced. In the history of the department I don’t think we’ve had a ladder truck more than 24, maybe 25 years. This truck has served us well and continues to operate, it continues to pass ladder tests and things like that, we keep it maintained well, but some of the components, just like anything that gets older, components — like the hydraulics, mechanics and the fittings, things like that — are slowly starting to deteriorate to the point where we’re being told, not only by our mechanics, but the underwriters that come through say, ‘You guys are getting by, but you have to seriously look at replacing this truck,'” he explained, suggesting it would be prudent for ambulance revenues to go toward a payment for a ladder truck.

He noted the department doesn’t just use the truck for the Hi-Rise, but for any area structure four stories or more, which includes current residences and businesses as well as planned ones like the cold storage facility on Roberts Road.

“To fight the perception of ‘Why do we need a ladder truck?’ is not only for the Hi-Rise building, but any building that’s four stories or higher. … That truck is not only used for the aerial device, but also as a tool box; it carries all our rescue equipment and carries ground ladders. In a pumper we can only carry a roof ladder and one extension ladder, so all of our ground ladders are carried on a ladder truck,” Edwards explained. “We complement each other by having a ladder truck. Fredonia’s truck is different from ours — they have a bucket-type truck, we have a straight-stick aerial. Ours can do things their doesn’t and their can do things ours doesn’t. This area definitely needs both of those. We should never be in a situation where one is down and we don’t have any.”

Because the department will need to design the truck from the ground up, it is expected to cost $1 million and take two years for manufacture and delivery.

Third Ward Councilman Shaun Heenan said he is in favor of seeing the department getting the equipment it needs and pointed out the city does not necessarily have to purchase vehicles in cash.

First Ward Councilman Don Williams Jr. questioned why the department brings in revenues, but they are not designated for a capital reserve for the department’s needs. He proposed designating some or all of the department’s revenues to a fund for this purpose in the future.

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