LYNNFIELD —
A new ambulance and fire engine headline the Fire Department’s $1.4 million capital funding request for fiscal year 2024.
In a recent presentation to the Select Board, Fire Chief Glenn Davis said they are necessary to replace existing vehicles that have exceeded their lifespans and are unsafe to operate.
The new ambulance comes at a cost of $385,000 and is the department’s top priority. The department has requested a new vehicle for the last five years to replace a 2006 ambulance that Davis said is well beyond its lifespan.
“(The) COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on the lifespan of our ambulances,” Davis said. “Harsh and corrosive chemicals used for cleaning and disinfecting during the pandemic have rapidly deteriorated surfaces and electronics in all our ambulances.”
Davis said the new ambulance will have “state of the art features to help keep the crew and patients safer,” complete with air purifiers. It will be funded with retained earnings from the town’s enterprise account.
Davis wrote in a funding request form that “Essex County and the rest of the United States is in an EMS crisis” due to staffing shortages and increased demands for assistance. As a result, the department has answered a “significant increase” in mutual aid requests resulting in “additional wear and tear on our vehicles.”
Davis said he has a firm quote of $840,000 for a new engine, which he described as a “big ticket item” that will replace Engine 4, a pumper that is 39-years-old and unsafe by contemporary standards. Davis said that the engine has a bad cylinder and lacks current safety features and technology. Its braking system is “less effective” and the front seat belts only have lap belts. The pump capacity is 750 gallons per minute, half of today’s standard of 1,500 gallons per minute.
“At any time, any possible major repairs could exceed the actual value of the truck,” Davis said.
The department also has two engines that are 20-years-old.
Davis said he submitted a request last week to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for an $850,000 grant to fund the purchase, but that the grant process is “competitive” and the town has recently been unsuccessful in securing grants despite applying every year.
“Last year we came as close as ever and we made it to the peer level,” Davis said. “Who knows? We could bubble to the top this year. We’re hoping that we get there this year but we still need to plan on that replacement.”
Select Board member Dick Dalton said he thought it is important that the public know the department has been asking for a new engine for the last five years.
“What bothers me about this is we are kicking the can down the road on this issue and at some point it has the ability to come back and kick us in the shins,” Dalton said.
In response, Davis noted that the department at one point had a 10-year capital replacement plan that outlined anticipated equipment replacements based on lifespans.
“I would love to see us get back to that,” Davis said. “We have not followed that for several years now and at some point this large purchase is going to align with another large purchase and we are going to be in a worse shape than if we had a more formal capital replacement plan on a revolving basis as we replace an engine or maybe a ladder (truck), or whatever is next.”
Davis noted that the department’s ladder truck was purchased in 2007 and “is getting down the road to life expectancy.” He said that while Engines 2 and 3 have been “well-maintained” since their purchase in 2004, they still have the potential to fail catastrophically.
Other capital requests include replacement of the telephone system at the station and a new fire alarm bucket truck.
The phone system is estimated to cost $25,000 and is a joint project with the police department. The current phone system at the station is 20-years-old and there have been a couple of recent outages, which Davis said are “unacceptable” in a public safety system.
The new system will give the department “compatibility and interoperability for enhanced public safety,” Davis said.
The final capital request is for $150,000 for a new bucket truck and associated fire alarm equipment to replace an existing 1995 truck. Davis said the hydraulic lift on the current truck shows signs of significant wear and imminent failure and that the cost to repair the lift is greater than the value of the truck. The truck is used for ongoing maintenance of the town’s fire alarm system and commercial alarm systems as well as street light maintenance by the Department of Public Works and periodic hanging of banners on the Town Common.
Davis said there are a few alternatives to the town’s current fire alarm box system. One is a central station, which refers alarms to an answering service, which in turn calls 911. But while the fire alarm system provides “immediate” notification to the fire department, Davis said a central station system has a delayed response time.
Other options considered by the department are regionalization – sharing trucks with neighboring communities – and purchasing used, instead of new, vehicles.
“The problem is if we had to send a truck out because of a wind storm, other communities [we are sharing with] are in the same situation,” Davis said. “Used trucks are possible with companies like Verizon and Reading Municipal Light. Those would also be shared with public works.”
