Belleville just bought a new fire truck. What will the city get for its $1.14 million?
Belleville firefighters are expected to get a new tool this fall to help them on the job.
But the price tag for this equipment is eye-opening: City Council members have approved a letter of intent to pay $1.14 million for a ladder firetruck.
In an effort to beat future price increases and to avoid a long wait for delivery, officials plan to buy a “demo” firetruck instead of a custom order, which can take two to four years.
The new engine will include a 500-gallon water tank, 75-foot ladder, the capability to pump 1,500 gallons per minute, and a 450-horsepower diesel engine.
The fire department expects to receive the fire truck possibly in October. It is being built by Ocala, Florida-based E-ONE and the sales agent is Mike Benker Jr. of Banner Fire Equipment Inc.
“Due to the aging Fire Department fleet needs, timeliness of receiving this truck and locking in a price before it goes any higher, the administration is recommending that the City Council take action to approve this purchase,” Belleville Finance Director Jamie Maitret wrote in a memo to the council.
Maitret said the city budgeted $250,000 from the TIF 3 fund in this year’s budget for a down payment on a new ladder truck. The remainder of the truck’s costs will be financed through a local bank as the city has done in prior vehicle purchases.
The council approved the plan on Monday night with a 15-1 vote. Ward 1 Alderwoman Lillian Schneider cast the lone dissenting vote because she said city officials should have first presented the plan to the City Council’s Police and Fire Committee.
Maitret said the plan wasn’t presented to the committee since the city had recently considered purchasing a demo truck, but that one was sold to another city before Belleville could make a decision.
“Due to some changes with Federal EPA requirements on the trucks, timelines for getting trucks are getting longer and longer, and the price continues to increase at an exponential rate,” Maitret wrote on July 13. “All of these are reasons why we have brought this item straight to the City Council instead of through a committee meeting.”
Interim Deputy Fire Chief Jason Rumpf told the council that the fire department had convened a committee to discuss purchasing a new fire truck.
Rumpf said in an interview after the meeting that the department’s older trucks are “needing major repairs.”
Prices of new firetrucks have increased 10% to 35% nationwide, according to an essay published Tuesday in Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment magazine.
The essay, which is titled “The Crazy World of Buying Apparatus Now,” notes that since the COVID-19 pandemic, firetruck manufacturers have faced increased costs of material and components and the availability of components has been scarce.
“I hope that we as a country can get through this supply and demand crisis and that when we do, fire truck prices can somewhat go back to normal,” wrote the author, Ricky Riley, who is a member of the editorial advisory board for the magazine.
“These prices are staggering even for a robust department budget.”
Riley also notes that firetruck costs will be further influenced by new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules regarding emissions.
This story was originally published July 20, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
