Oswego Fire Department (OFD) was granted bonds to purchase a new vehicle that will replace their “last remaining yellow fire truck” by City of Oswego Common Council on Oct. 11.
The engine being replaced is a 1986 heavy rescue truck that is currently out of commission, according to OFD Chief Randall Griffin.
“We need equipment and that vehicle is a means to get that equipment to the scene,” Griffin said. “It sitting at the station is not going to help.”
The search for a new vehicle began before the COVID-19 pandemic when the damage on the truck was first discovered but was slowed due to supply chain and other issues.
“We were getting ready to make specifications for a new one to replace it when unfortunately the welds that hold the box on the back broke,” Griffin said. “So now it is unsafe to operate; The box could literally separate from the truck.”
Griffin said their options after learning about the damage on the truck were either “spend tens of thousands of dollars” repairing it or replace the vehicle outright.
Because plans were already in place to purchase a new truck, OFD decided to move forward with buying new rather than spend the estimated $50 thousand to fix it.
“These trucks last roughly 20 years,” Griffin said. “I inherited when I came here five and a half years ago two vehicles that were over 30 years old, [which is] well beyond what is perceived to be their life expectancy … 30-year-old fire trucks are good in a parade, they are not good if your house catches on fire.”
A heavy rescue truck is not always staffed but is used in specific situations. This “special operations unit” carries all of OFD’s hazardous materials equipment, technical rescue equipment and any other gear related to special operations. The special operations truck also is used at building fires to supply additional lighting to ensure other fire trucks can be put back into commission as soon as possible.
The city is currently looking to cover the cost of the new truck, a total price of around $1 million, according to Griffin. Because the bonds were approved, OFD is now able to move forward with the plans to purchase the vehicle. Griffin said he is hoping the new truck will be in Oswego by mid-November, if the bonds are approved this month, and will be fully operational and in use by Dec. 1.
With the old truck unusable, Griffin said it is a major issue for OFD because they do not necessarily have the equipment they need at the scene. Firefighters currently have to leave the scene and go back to the station to “shop for what [they] need,” load it onto the truck and then go back.
“If you were in a predicament, you don’t want us to say, ‘we’ll be right back, we have to go get something’ because you want that help right away,” Griffin said. “We want to make sure our firefighters have the equipment they need to be able to execute that rescue when it’s needed.”
Before the pandemic, the process of buying a new fire truck took just about a year, according to Griffin, but due to supply chain issues and rising costs of materials, the timeline now is over two years because parts are more difficult to get.
The new engine OFD has chosen was previously a display vehicle used in tours and demonstrations, but never was owned by a fire department. Griffin said it will perfectly fit their needs and will cut costs because they are not paying for a new truck to be built.
“We took everything off of [the old] truck and put it on [the new] truck to say, ‘will this fit our needs,’” Griffin said. “And the answer is yes.”
The new truck will also be red to match the rest of the engines in the fleet. Once it is operational within OFD, the old truck will be given back to the city and they will determine what will be done with it, Griffin said.
Image via Oswego Fire Department
