Palatine (IL) village council recently voted to spend about $1.5 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to replace an apparatus as well as 50 in-vehicle computers.
“The 50 Police and Fire in-vehicle rugged computers are now 8 years old, last replaced in 2013,” the village says on its website. “The computers are incurring significant failures and parts are difficult to obtain.
“Additionally, the communication modems for the in-vehicle computers are now 10 years old. The units are no longer supported by the manufacturer and have begun to fail.
“To address the major failure point of the laptop computers, we are recommending to switch from laptops to tablets. This removes the hinge, which has been a major point of failure for the last two laptops installations.”
The in-vehicle technology from Mesa (AZ)-based Ensemble Solutions Group will cost $243,695.68.
The new apparatus, a 2022 aerial platform from MacQueen Emergency Group of Aurora (IL), is not to exceed $1,278,000. It will replace T-371, a 2008 Pierce Quint with 87,000 miles.
“It typically spends most of its life idling at fire scenes, so industry standard is to use engine hours with a multiplier to simulate actual driving in an urban area,” the village says. “Thus, the truck has an equivalent of 271,320 miles on it. The use of ARPA funds under the revenue replacement criteria will allow us to maintain our scheduled purchase.”
The total cost for the replacements is $1,521,695.68.