LAPEL — With a fire engine seven years beyond the suggested time for replacement, the Lapel town council agreed it’s time for a new one.
At a special town council meeting Thursday, June 4, members unanimously approved financing a loan to purchase a new engine for Lapel Stony Creek Township Fire Territory.
“The department has been concerned about the age of the (current) fire engine,” fire territory attorney John Reeder said.
Reeder added that an assessment to see if it would be possible to acquire a loan has been done. Also, a public meeting to inform residents who have questions about the purchase has been scheduled for June 17 at the fire station.
“Our truck is 27 years old, and it’s suggested by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) to be replaced after 20 years,” Tom Marvel, vice president of the town council and member of the fire department, told the board. “It’s a good truck, don’t get me wrong, but the pump is slowly giving up on it and starting to leak.
“Little things are starting to nickel and dime us, and I think that it’s showing signs of being 27 years old and time to be replaced.”
The current apparatus roster for the department includes two ambulances, battalion car, fire engine, grass fire truck, rescue vehicle, tanker and an antique fire engine. A new ambulance was ordered last year, but has yet to arrive due to delays in production related to the coronavirus pandemic.
As member of both the board and fire department, Marvel abstained for the vote for the loan.
Marvel described to the board and others attending the meeting via gomeeting.com, details of the current engine and the one they are wanting to purchase.
He said the existing vehicle is a commercial cap, which he explained was a box or industrial type truck that had the fire truck chassis built on to it.
The engine they are hoping to purchase from Pierce Manufacturing, a company out of Appleton, Wisconsin, with a local outlet in Lebanon, is a custom-chassis fire truck.
“We’re looking for a truck that will last just as long or longer (than the current truck) and a custom fire truck that is built to be a fire truck,” Marvel said. “This is not a freightliner truck — it’s built for stop and go, the breaking, the handling, everything an emergency vehicle needs.”
Marvel said it would be the first customized engine the department has had since the 1970s.
“The only reason it had not been done in the past is because of cost. Fortunately, we have available funds to do this now. We haven’t in past,” Marvel said.
The final cost, Marvel said, is still to be determined but the estimated desired loan would be $620,000.
Pierce will offer a pre-pay discount, Marvel said, but that discount, as of Thursday’s meeting, was unknown, and depending on bill date of the truck could range from $20,000 to $25,000.
Currently, the projected cost of truck, with a discount would be about $590,000, if auditors can get approval within the next 30-40 days.
Marvel said it would be 395 days, upon billing date, for the truck to be ready for service.
The loan will be financed over six years. The current engine would be kept and used as a reserve.
In other business, the town approved a request from Amanda Paddock to close Hawthorne Drive and Brookside Road for a street party to take place July 4.
The board also voted to use Commonwealth Engineers for its next attempt for an Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) Matching Grant for water plant upgrades. The town has tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain the grant three times in the past two years.
This will be the first time Commonwealth Engineers has been a part of the town’s project.