Supervisors ok 4.6 million in expenditure for fire trucks and an ambulance

Botetourt County will spend $4.6 million for new fire trucks and ambulances. The Board of Supervisors approved the purchase 4-1 at the Tuesday, October 25, 2022 meeting at the Botetourt County Administration Building at Greenfield.

The purchase includes a 100’ ladder truck capable of reaching the fifth story of structures, two ambulances, two fire engines, and an EMS vehicle.

Most of the apparatus would not be delivered for 30 months, Botetourt Fire-EMS Chief Jason Ferguson told the supervisors. The ambulances would not be delivered for 37 months, he added.

Ferguson said that by making multiple purchases at once, the package deal would save the county $85,000. Additionally, the vendor had told him that all prices would increase by 6.1 percent on contracts signed after November 1, 2022.

The county supervisors acted to take advantage of the package deal and beat the price increase.

Even this purchase does not bring the county’s fire apparatus needs to standard. “Two [ladder trucks] would be best,” Ferguson said.

The county has over 60 pieces of operational apparatus, including ambulances, brush trucks, service trucks, and fire engines. The new equipment would not be additional equipment but instead would replace vehicles that have outlived their lifespan, Ferguson said.

For example, the county has a 2009 rescue engine at Read Mountain Fire and Rescue Station that has 113,000 miles on it and over 6,705 engine hours. Because the engines on a fire truck can run for hours at a fire scene, that many hours is the equivalent of 403,000 miles on the vehicle, Ferguson said. The truck is currently in use without a hydraulic generator on it because it would cost $15,000 to replace that part.

“We are making do,” Ferguson said.

Buchanan currently has a fire engine that is not equipped for rescue operations, meaning that one of the main engines assisting with wrecks on Interstate 81 is not capable of extraction or other rescues. Buchanan also has a 75’ 2003 ladder truck that “comes up short as an aerial device when we need an aerial device,” Ferguson said.

His detailed proposal included selling the 2003 ladder truck and putting the money toward the new purchases. He has also applied for grants and receives annual funding from the Virginia Department of Fire Services that would go toward the purchase of the new fire trucks.

Troutville Fire Department has a 1994 100’ aerial ladder truck that the county put in service in 2018. Though old, Ferguson said the truck still serves well and it is maintained and tested periodically. At the moment it is the only ladder truck capable of working a fire in the multi-storied apartment units in the county. Should this truck fail or additional ladder trucks be needed at a fire scene, the county would have to call for mutual aid from other localities.

The closest ladder truck is located at the Roanoke County fire station on Hershberger, Ferguson said. Should that ladder truck be unavailable, Botetourt would have to turn to Roanoke City for assistance.

Fire departments use ladder trucks in many situations, Ferguson said. Some reasons to use a ladder truck include balcony extractions, fires in multi-story structures, fires in a construction environment, two story homes, and chimney fires.

Keeping a firefighter on a ladder truck instead of climbing ladders and risking falling through a roof is much safer for personnel, Ferguson added.

“An aerial stream can be used on a fire of any size,” he said.

Most surrounding jurisdictions have three ladder trucks, Ferguson said. “This isn’t new to a locality of our size. . . . I wouldn’t ask for it if I didn’t feel it was a need.”

“Public safety has to rise to the top,” Buchanan District Supervisor Amy White said during discussion. “Fire and EMS can touch every person in this community, and people outside of this community as well. This is the best thing we can do to ensure safety.”

Amsterdam District Supervisor Steve Clinton opposed the motion to approve the purchase, citing fiscal concerns.

                                                                                          Anita Firebaugh – Special to The Botetourt Bee