The new fire engine Albany is buying will be nearly identical to this one, bought in 2022 and delivered in 2024. (Photo supplied by AFD)
Next time you pull over for a fire engine on its way to an alarm, be aware that there’s a million bucks rolling down the street.
That, anyway, is the price of the new fire truck the Albany Fire Department is buying. The city council authorized the purchase on March 11.
The price of the engine, a Pierce Enforcer, is $1,044,639 after a discount for prepayment. Like other Pierce equipment in the fire department fleet, it will be built in Appleton, WI.
Fire Chief Chris LaBelle expects it will take 28-34 months for the new rig to be built and delivered.
The price of new fire trucks and the time it takes to get one have become a hot topic in the fire service nationwide, the chief told me.
“We purchased our last fire engine in 2022 and took delivery in 2024,” he said in an email. “The total cost for that engine was $822,000.”
All over the country, fire departments are forced to use their apparatus longer than recommended, leading to higher maintenance expense and, eventually, breakdowns. Departments blame the situation on consolidation in the fire truck industry.
When Albany’s new truck arrives, it will allow the department to move a 2008 Pierce Impel engine from frontline to reserve status. This will replace an engine that was damaged responding to a field fire in July 2024.
Straw got caught under the apparatus and ignited, LaBelle recalled. “The fire ended up burning through the electronic systems and ultimately totaled the engine.”
Insurance did not cover the full replacement cost, which is why the department could not order a new engine till now. (hh)
Oh good. now they will have a new truck to drive to Winco every day to get groceries. Not sure so they are allowed that the tell me it’s so they can run elbows with the public. I for one wish they would stay at the fire station and save wear and tear on trucks.
I believe the point is, if there is an emergency, they don’t have to drive a “grocery getter” back to the station and then switch to a truck. Ditto when they are out doing “inspections”. Maybe they stop & get groceries on their way back?
I’d be more interested in seeing what they get to eat.
I don’t believe you know how they work Mark. They work a 24 to 48 hour shift, and they eat meals during their shift that they prepare in the station. They each contribute to the purchase of the food for their dinner while they are away from their families for one to two days, and they take the engine with them to go shopping so they can respond to any medical, fire or rescue emergency and minimize the response time, no matter where they are. Of course, they seldom have a meal that is uninterrupted by an emergency call, and if they are not on a call they are training for all the various hazards (fire, hazardous materials, medical (they do all the transport ambulance too with their paramedic/firefighters), water rescue, confined space rescue, technical rope rescue…) or maintaining their equipment.
Now, if we could have less brush fires, etc. More strict enforcement of fireworks laws is needed. In Albany, fireworks are not to rise more than 6 ft. in the air. This is not enforced, so we need to have our garden hoses ready on the 4th of July and a week before and about 2 days after the 4th. Many do not read anything but social media, and they do not follow the laws or even know about them.
Fireworks in Albany neighborhoods rise hundreds of feet in the air and land on roofs and start some fires every year!
People only complain until they need to be saved/rescued.
So they take a $800000.00 engine on a “I’ve fallen and can’t get up ambulance call. because they need two extra sets of hands, instead of using a car that costs $40,000 and gets 6 times the fuel economy. If there was a fire call while the car was out, when the two sets of hands on the Ambulance call could meet the truck where ever the fire was. That same thing could happen at the Winco/Freds/Safeway trip as well. When as a Councilor I suggested this, they said “We have decided not to try that.”
You are wrong, Rich Kellum. Years ago fire departments tried that, and it didn’t save any money and created a nightmare as they tried to assemble a team with the appropriate equipment to deal with the multitude of emergency calls and equipment they have to assemble. It works better the way they do it. Virtually every fire department in the country responds this way because it is the most operationally and cost effective way to respond. Perhaps you should volunteer for a department and try to learn more about it. There are plenty of departments in the area that would appreciate it if you would volunteer for them, and at the same time, you could learn more about how and why they provide the service the way they do. Albany is an all career department, but Tangent, Halsey Shedd, Lebanon, are either combination or all-volunteer and are in need of volunteers.
Not according to the Washington post 8/2020 most departments are switching to smaller units for the “lift” calls. I suggest that “they have always done it that way,” is what is going on here,
They didn’t even try something different, just “we don’t want to do that.”
I looked for the six year old article and could not find it – perhaps you could provide a link? Most departments are not switching to smaller units to do this – some large cities have the staffing to do squads, but not cities as small as Albany – it basically splits their response force into too small of a unit to be an effective response force. Again, I would encourage you to volunteer – if you don’t feel you can serve as a combat volunteer there are plenty of non-combat roles that you could serve in. I have over 40 years of experience in the fire service, and we are constantly trying different ways to improve response. I’m not sure your one article has given you an accurate understanding of the complexity of these issues.
I can live with the cost of a new engine if that’s what they charge for them. What I don’t like is the brand new Chevy Suburban’s they seem to buy every year. They should be able to run those for 4 or 5 years without a problem. I’m pretty sure its the “Spend it or lose it” government spending policy.