Agenda

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Finance Committee

Meeting Date:	07/10/2018
FROM:	Bill Gallardo

Subject:

Purchase of Reserve Fire Truck - 1998 American LaFrance 105’ Aerial Ladder

RECOMMENDATION

Approve the purchase of a Fire Truck for reserve use for $49,999 from the City of Vernon.

BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION

The Brea Fire Department has one (1) 2007 Pierce Dash Ladder Truck (Truck 2) stationed at Fire Station 2. Currently, there is no reserve truck in the City and when Truck 2 is out of service for repair, the crew has to staff an engine to respond.

The staffing of an engine rather than a truck is problematic because the Department has no ability to ladder an incident for a building more than three-stories. In addition, the Truck carries a significant amount of equipment for special operations such as extrication which engines do not.

Originally, Fire Station 2 was housed with a Truck and an Engine Company, but due to budget issues Engine 2 was taken out of service. To compensate, Truck 2 was retrofitted with a water tank (Truck 2 was not purchased with a tank) so it could respond to calls requiring water by itself. Due to high usage of over the years and more so the retrofit of the truck, Truck 2 has been out of service a fair amount of time. In fact, this past year, the out of service time increased tremendously. We are now at the point where it would benefit the Department to have a reserve truck.

Truck 2 is anticipated to be replaced as a first line apparatus in 2027 after twenty (20) years of service. However, as mentioned, with the additional call load due to the loss of Engine 2 being put out of service and the mechanical issues stemming from the tank conversion, it may need to be replaced sooner. Until a replacement is acquired and Truck 2 is put in reserve, we need a reserve truck to make sure our service levels meet our Community's needs. Just within the last week, the City of Vernon advertised to the Fire Community the selling of their reserve ladder truck which prompted this opportunity to add a necessary piece of apparatus to the fleet.

SUMMARY/FISCAL IMPACT

Members of our Department and Public Works staff took a look at the apparatus and recommended to purchase. The truck is a 1998 American LaFrance 105’ Aerial Ladder. The cost is $49,999 and the mileage is 40,161. Public Works anticipates that we would need to put about $10,000 in it for air conditioning work, lights, tires, and other repairs. The maintenance per year on the apparatus would be about $10,000. A brand new truck would cost at least $1.2 million. We are also looking into ways of sharing reserve apparatus with the City of Fullerton to be more efficient and effective.

It is respectfully requested that this purchase is approved and we are allowed to proceed with obtaining this apparatus from the City of Vernon.

The purchase of this reserve Fire Truck as well as any repairs needed are not budgeted. Funding for the purchase would need to be appropriated from either General Fund (110) Reserves or Equipment & Vehicle Maintenance Fund (480) Reserves. The appropriation for this purchase will be addressed in the first round of FY 2018-19 Budget Adjustments.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED

William Gallardo, City Manager
Prepared by: Wolfgang Knabe, Fire Chief