Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan stands with the department’s three newest vehicles, from left, the command deputy chief’s vehicle, the chief’s vehicle and the department mechanic’s service truck. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – Although the fire department will have to wait for new apparatus, three aging support vehicles have recently been replaced to improve the efficiency of different aspects of the department.
With the new additions to the fleet, the chief has a vehicle which starts reliably, the command deputy chief has a vehicle he can work efficiently from and the department’s mechanic has a vehicle which will allow him to better service apparatus on site without taking it out of service for work at his garage.
Firefighter Chris Bard, the department’s mechanic, said that the chief’s former vehicle was a 2000 Chevrolet Tahoe with 95 thousand miles on the odometer and rust eating the body.
He said that while the vehicle is still usable the chief’s vehicle is an emergency vehicle and needs to be more reliable than the old one was.
“At ten years old, it’s seen its life as an emergency vehicle,” he said.
Fire Chief Mary Regan said she likes her new 2013 Ford Explorer because “it starts” and she can count on getting to fire scenes without delay. She also said that it is frustrating to leave a Boston meeting and find that a dead battery is going to delay her return to the city.
Bard said that he has been using a 1996 Chevy with 140 thousand miles but said that the 2012 Ford F350 with a utility body and a lift gate will make him more efficient.
“It’s going to keep apparatus in service,” he said, because the new truck has room for tools and spare parts so he will be able to work on fire vehicles at the stations where they are assigned and they can remain available while he makes repairs.
The new command deputy’s vehicle, a 2012 Ford Expedition, will help the deputy in charge at the scene of a fire or emergency work better, Regan said, because it will provide him with a portable office.
The rear hatch of the vehicle opens to reveal a lighted space with a pullout table and compartments for needed supplies and equipment.
Instead of working from the front seat of his vehicle, the deputy in command will have a table he can work from where other can gather around and work together to keep better track of duties assigned to firefighters at a fire scene.
The old command vehicle, Regan said, will be handed down to the fire prevention officer to replace the Ford Taurus he has been using.
Regan said that not only will the larger vehicle allow him to carry his needed equipment more easily he will be “able to go through these construction sites without too much trouble.”
In addition, she said, the old command vehicle will be available as a backup for the new one.
Regan said that the Taurus and her old vehicle have been given back to the city for use by other departments while the mechanic’s truck is so worn that it has been placed out of service.
Regan said that a new pumper truck, Engine Four, has recently been added to the fleet and another pumper, Engine Six, will probably be replaced in about three years but said, “The first piece we need to replace in the platform, it’s going on 24 years of service.”
She said that the nationwide norm is to expect about 25 years of service from aerial equipment and said that the mayor named a replacement for the platform truck as a priority in his inaugural speech She said that training of personnel on the current platform truck is being curtailed to preserve it.
“We’re limiting the miles and time it is in use because we need to have it in service” she said.
Regan said that the mayor’s current plan is to ask the City Council to approve the use of free cash, when it is certified, for the first installment of a lease-to-own program to buy the platform.
The regular budgetary process, she said, will fund successive installments.
The current plan, she said, is to utilize a lease program as that seems to be the most economical way to finance the new apparatus but said “we’re going to have to look at that again when we know the money is going to be appropriated.”
She said that the financing costs of a lease are expected to be between two and two and a half percent of the cost of a $1.4 million platform truck.
Since the need has been apparent for some time, Regan said, the specifications needed for a new platform have already been determined so only minor adjustments will be necessary when bids for the purchase are solicited and a vendor is chosen.
Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan demonstrates the pull-out desk on the new vehicle for use by the deputy chief in command at a fire scene. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
