"It will take a week to prepare the new pumper before it can be put into service," Blackfoot Fire Department Lt. David Lewis said. "We need to find where all the tools fit and put in mounting brackets to mount them." "The pumper is 33 feet, 9 inches in length, weighs 21 tons and is nine feet-10 inches in height," he said. "It will hold 1,000 gallons of water and can pump 1,250 gallons per minute. Everyone can face forward in the cab and there is enough room in it that multiple people can have their breathers on and be ready to go."

Fire Chief Jay Delaney said the city once owned three ladder trucks, but is now down to one 2003 model that is frequently out of service because of breakdowns, and parts are hard to come by because the manufacturer went out of business.  

Delaney said ladder trucks cost between $900,000 and $1.5 million, and he’s been seeking funding sources for a new truck for the past three years.

Last month, the city applied for a $1,274,000 Local Share Account grant to fully fund the purchase of a ladder truck, but they weren’t optimistic that the Commonwealth Financing Authority would approve a grant in the full amount, if at all.

The board voted 2-1 to reject extending the payment period for a new pumper by one year with the expectation that the sale of one or two used pumpers and reduced maintenance cost would pay the difference. Instead the pumper will be rebid, with the notation that the actual price cannot exceed $421,000.  

The GFPD has $500,000 from the sale of land to the village of Godfrey to pay for a new pumper, which is needed because of the age and increased maintenance cost of several of its vehicles. It could also access about $30,000 in special equipment funds, including $10,000 that was recently donated to the department.

The low bid for a new pumper that met the Fire Department’s specifications came in at a total of $494,721, including new equipment. However, it would take an additional $60,000 to pay for the financing over 10 years.

The two fire pumper trucks, which city council members approved Monday, will cost the city around $860,000 combined, with most of the funding coming from the five-year millage. Breed said his department planned on being able to pay for the vehicles entirely out of the millage revenues, but a cost increase driven by recent tariffs on materials means the city will have to dip in to the motor pool fund by $12,500.  

But the department will be saving a considerable amount of money on the trucks through a couple of negotiations with the manufacturer, Sutphen Corp. The original asking price for the two vehicles was nearly $560,000 each, but the city will be saving about $50,000 by allowing the corporation to use the trucks as demonstration vehicles for one year before taking possession of them.