September 25, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County is currently served by 12 community fire stations, many of them with fire trucks that are aging. Some are more than 20 years old and one, a reserve fire truck, is a 1979 model.
During Thursday night’s committee of the whole meeting of the county commission, Matt Adcock, 6th district commissioner and member of the fire department, requested that the county consider purchasing a new fire truck to replace an older one in the fleet. Adcock said its important that the county implement a replacement schedule on these trucks so they all don’t wear out at the same time.
Adcock said he made this request during meetings of the budget committee over the summer but funds for a new fire truck were not included in this year’s budget.
County Fire Chief Donny Green added that now would be a good time to make such a purchase without spending local tax dollars since the county has received a one-time local government grant from the state. The county is getting $822,841 from that grant but half the money has already been allocated for other projects. The rest $411,421 is in a general fund reserve account which could be spent by the county commission as it deems necessary.
Adcock said he has obtained a quote for a new demo truck and based on that the starting base price would be $249,000.
Second district commissioner Myron Rhody questioned why the county should buy a new fire truck for an existing fire station when other communities needing a fire station don’t have one.
“I can’t justify spending a quarter of a million dollars to replace one when there are other fire halls with no engines,” said Rhody.
Rhody added that a fire truck doesn’t necessarily have to be replaced based just on age if it still serves needs and passes inspection.
“We do not have certified class-a pumpers in every station and those that are not class-a pumpers won’t pass certification. We can’t get insurance (ISO) credit on them. We have two stations right now that have the old homemade trucks that we built. They are not class-a. Also our reserve truck did not pass the pump test, ” said Chief Green .
“Then why do we have them (if they don’t pass certification),” asked Rhody.
“Because that’s all we have (to work with). We have to use them but we don’t get ISO insurance credit on them,” answered Chief Green.
The county is getting the opportunity to purchase a new tanker truck for the fire department thanks to a Community Development Block Grant which has been awarded through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The county’s local grant match is $70,000 making the total project $349,518.
First district commissioner Dennis Slager said while he is glad the department is getting a new tanker truck (the 2nd one in the fleet) perhaps the county should have applied for a new fire engine instead.
Chief Green explained that the county’s chances for getting a grant funded fire truck were not as good as for a tanker under this CDBG program. Unlike a pumper, a tanker can only be used to transport water to a fire scene.
“The priority of the grant was the more communities you impact the higher you score on the application so we sought a tanker because it would benefit the whole county. We really didn’t stand a chance applying for a pumper that serves a single community. That’s not my opinion that was from people in the grant office,” said Chief Green.
Slager suggested that the county commission postpone any action on purchasing a new fire truck until the department proposes a detailed replacement schedule.
“Its very obvious this needs further discussion before we start voting to buy a fire truck. I think we need to let Chief Green come up with a plan of what needs to be replaced and a sequence. I’m glad they got a second tanker but it looks like the money should have been spent for engines instead of a second tanker. He (Chief Green) could tell us what desperately needs to be replaced and come up with a sequence in the next few years of trying to replace engines. Its obvious a 1979 reserve truck is probably not too good but without a detailed plan, it may be too premature in voting for a fire truck,” said Commissioner Slager.
Chief Green said the Fire Department has been calling on county commissions to implement a replacement schedule on aging fire equipment for several years.
In a WJLE news article posted in April, 2012 Chief Green said the following in addressing the county commission. “ If we’re not careful, we’re going to wind up with a bunch of trucks all the same age. We’ve been fortunate to get in on some of these grants over the years. If we can keep this rolling to where we can get those updated we won’t get behind”.
During Thursday night’s meeting, Chief Green said “I can’t think of how many years I have done this but for years I have brought the commission a worksheet showing the fleet age and what should be replaced as it gets old. I have expressed this time after time. We are going to have all our fleet to replace at one time if we don’t blend in some new equipment. I’m good with buying old but I don’t want you to ask me when I have to present a budget request later that we need five fire trucks in one year why I didn’t phase in some new trucks over time. We have an opportunity with this COVID-19 grant money but if you don’t want to spend it for this we will make do with what we have. I’ll be glad to meet with the emergency services committee to discuss this further and let you look at our trucks if you want to,” added Chief Green.
The issue is on the agenda for discussion during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting of the county commission which will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center in the auditorium.