The James City County Board of Supervisors approved two contract awards for the purchase of two new fire pumper trucks and a new ambulance for the James City County Fire Department at its meeting Tuesday night.
The trucks and ambulance being replaced will become reserve vehicles; one of the current reserve fire trucks will be sold.
“Just like your own personal vehicle, they wear out,” said Fire Chief Tal Luton said of fire trucks and ambulances in an interview with WYDaily.
The new ambulance, which will total $221,962, is partially covered by a $107,500 Rescue Squad Assistance Fund grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health. The fire trucks, which will cost $1,274,702, will be paid for through the Capital Improvements Program.
The fiscal year 2013 CIP budgeted for both the trucks and the ambulance.
Fire trucks can be on “front-line service,” meaning they are the first trucks to leave the station, for 15 years, according to the National Fire Protection Association standards. They can be on reserve status for another five years.
The county maintains two reserve trucks, Luton said.
The county has a 10-year plan that establishes a replacement cycle, giving the department time to plan for the replacement of emergency vehicles. If a truck wears out faster than expected, the truck can be moved forward in the cycle.
Ambulance replacement time is usually six to seven years because ambulances sometimes have to drive many more miles than a fire truck. There is a replacement cycle for ambulances as well.
Luton said the new vehicles will not quicken the department’s response time to incidents.
“Response time is really a product of time and distance. [The trucks] are not going to go any faster, it’s just the dependability of the vehicle that’s really corrected,” he said.
James City County applies for the competitive Rescue Squad Assistance each year, but receives it only intermittently. Last year, they received a grant to help fund a replacement lift bag kit. A grant from the same fund also helped pay for AEDs in 2007 and 2012.
The Fire Department, Fleet and Purchasing staff examined different options for the trucks and ambulance and determined the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s cooperative purchasing contract with Atlantic Emergency Solutions would be the best option.
“By participating in the cooperative procurement action, staff believes the County will increase efficiency, reduce administrative expenses, and benefit from an accelerated delivery process,” staff’s memo to the board reads.
If the county chose to go another route rather than the HGAC contract, the purchasing process would be delayed and the county would likely pay a higher price.
The new fire trucks will be for Fire Station 1 in Toano and Fire Station 5 on Monticello Avenue. The fire truck for the Toano station will be the second truck for that station. The fire truck being replaced at Station 5 will be taken to Fire Station 3 on John Tyler Highway to replace a truck being put out of service, said Fire Chief Tal Luton. When a fire truck is put out of service, the county lists it for sale.
The new emergency vehicles are expected to be delivered later this year.
