“The cost increases, the number of them and the delays are something I have not witnessed before in my time.” — Chief Mike Jones, Fredericksburg Fire Department

Cathy Dyson
The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.
(TNS)

Mar. 29—Fire and rescue departments across the Fredericksburg region — and the nation — are dealing with the double whammy of higher costs and longer wait times for new ambulances and fire trucks.

Here’s a situation that played out recently in King George County: Fire Chief David Moody requested a replacement ambulance in September and initially put in a “placeholder of $300,000 with the disclaimer” that he didn’t know the exact price because the manufacturer hadn’t provided it.

When he got the final cost, Moody came back to the Board of Supervisors because he needed another $34,000.

“Just to give you a little bit of context,” Moody said last week, “this is the same model that we purchased in 2020 for $285,000 … and now the price today is $333,957.”

Wait times for new equipment are going up along with costs. Departments used to get new ambulances or fire apparatus three to six months after they placed an order. Now, the process is taking two to three years.

“It’s a big mess,” said Brian Frankel, deputy chief of EMS for Stafford County Fire and Rescue. “Pretty much every jurisdiction in the commonwealth is dealing with the same challenge.”

Four American and international groups, representing various fire and rescue officials, spelled out the problems with rising costs and wait times, and the risk they pose, in an October letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

“This issue is a rapidly emerging threat to public safety,” the letter stated. “The lack of proper equipment puts additional pressure on an EMS system that is already over-stressed.”

The groups included the American Ambulance Association, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Firefighters and National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. They said that when an ambulance is totaled in a crash or has put in too many miles, the long wait for a new one makes it harder to ensure timely responses to 911 calls.

Most of the problems are tied to supply chain issues including the global shortage of microchips that’s impacted all automotive production. But the production of the chassis used for ambulances has been particularly hard hit, according to a June article on the Firehouse website.

Manufacturers, such as Ford, GM and Chrysler, typically provide chassis to companies that then assemble ambulances with specifications requested by local fire and rescue departments.

But the companies that assemble the rescue squads have gotten only “a fraction of their orders” in the last 18 months, according to the letter from fire and rescue officials. To compound the problem, the ambulance industry is getting more requests for new equipment.

Before COVID, North American companies were receiving about 6,000 requests a year for new ambulances, according to the letter from fire and rescue associations. In 2021, orders increased to 8,500 a year.

“These are extremely difficult times for buyers, dealers and the manufacturers,” Bob Reilly, owner of one of the largest ambulance dealers in the United States, said in the Firehouse article.

Chief Mike Jones with the Fredericksburg Fire Department has been in fire trucks or ambulances for almost 40 years, and worked to procure them for decades.

“The cost increases, the number of them and the delays are something I

Chris Cartwright
The Keene Sentinel, N.H.
(TNS)

Mar. 29—MARLBOROUGH — Residents approved a new fire truck; $100,000 for stormwater infrastructure planning, design and construction; and all other articles on the warrant at town meeting Tuesday.

Roughly 65 of the town’s 1,370 registered voters gathered at the Marlborough School for the hour-and-a-half meeting, presided over by Moderator Michael Briggs.

The meeting opened with residents approving $550,000 to buy a fire truck. No more than $400,000 of bonds or notes will be issued for the truck, with the remaining balance to be funded through a variety of sources. These include $75,000 from the Fire Equipment Capital Reserve Fund, $66,000 from various other funds and $9,000 from donations.

Fire Chief John Manning spoke before the vote, saying, “the price of fire trucks has become what can only be described as insanely crazy.” There were no comments or debate on the measure, and the ballot box remained open for an hour. The article passed 61-4.

Residents then approved the $2,578,963 operating budget by a voice vote. Town Administrator Ellen M. Smith detailed budget changes that resulted in an increase of $135,852 from the figure voters approved last year. These included the higher cost of diesel, gasoline and heating oil, as well as a police department wage-scale adjustment to keep wages competitive with surrounding towns. Smith previously told The Sentinel that the tax rate would increase by an estimated 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed value if all warrant articles passed.

Marlborough voters also approved the following allocations to capital reserve funds: $25,000 to the police cruiser capital reserve fund, $10,000 to the fire equipment capital reserve fund, $20,000 to the highway equipment capital reserve fund, $10,000 to the road maintenance capital reserve fund and $8,000 to the town reassessment capital reserve fund.

Residents agreed to raise $100,000 for stormwater infrastructure planning, design and construction. As part of this, the town will apply for Clean Water State Revolving Funds, according to Smith. The ballot vote passed 54-7.

Voters then approved spending $14,741 for local services, such as Monadnock Family Services and The Community Kitchen. Residents also approved a re-adoption of the optional veterans’ tax credit and authorized the town to establish or amend fees.

In the town elections, voters elected Julie Farhm to library trustee for a three-year term over Charley Wright. Farhm received 74 votes while Wright finished with 22.

Elected without contest: Jane Pitt to a three-year term on the selectboard; Kathleen Chamberlain, town clerk/tax collector, three years; Jeffrey B. Miller, advisory budget committee member, three years; Michael Desabrais, advisory budget committee member, two years; John Manning, fire ward, three years.

Overall, 102 votes were cast out of the 1,370 registered voters, or about 7 percent.

Christopher Cartwright can be reached at ccartwright@keenesentinel.com or 603-352-1234, extension 1405.

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(c)2023 The Keene Sentinel (Keene, N.H.)

Visit The Keene Sentinel (Keene, N.H.) at www.sentinelsource.com

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Josephine Moore
The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.
(TNS)

Mar. 28—The Beckley Common Council approved the purchase of vehicles for the police and fire departments, which they said was no easy feat in this market.

The Beckley council approved the purchase of a new fire engine for roughly $1 million. The truck will be paid for using funds from the fire levy and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

Beckley Fire Capt. Joe Coughlin told council members that fire engines typically need replaced every 20 years.

“Like with cars, it’s getting harder to get an engine now and if you try to order one and bid it out and do the bidding process, it’s a year to get one and the price changes,” Coughlin said.

City Treasurer Billie Trump said they were able to secure the engine through a “buying cooperative” which helped bypass the long bidding process while also saving the city some money.

Trump said the Beckley Police Department has been waiting over a year for new vehicles in a purchasing process complicated by supply chain issues.

“The (police) chief put in an order over a year ago for those on state contract and then we waited a year and then the order was canceled,” Trump said.

In light of the difficulty in obtaining new police vehicles, council members approved a resolution Tuesday to forgo the usual bidding process and purchase six new vehicles for the Beckley Police Department.

The six vehicles cost about $47,000 each, Trump said.

Trump said the city was lucky to find these vehicles after being tipped off by the Oak Hill Police Department that a dealership in North Carolina had about a dozen police cruisers available.

“We had to just act because once the word gets out, everybody gets lined up to get ’em,” Trump said.

Beckley Police Chief Dean Bailey said the department has needed new vehicles for some time.

“We’ve been in such need of cars that we’ve been piecing together 10- and 12-, 13-year-old cars just to try to keep the vehicles on the road, and they’re just becoming so unsafe,” Bailey said.

Bailey said it’s been roughly two years since the department has been able to find any new vehicles as a result of supply chain issues caused by Covid. He added that inflation has significantly increased the the price for police vehicles.

The Beckley Police Department also swore in five new officers, two females and three males, on Tuesday. The new officers are Ptl. David Brooks, Ptl. Jacob Stafford, Ptl. Rheanna Murray, Ptl. Alyssa Christian and Ptl. Darryl Cooper Jr.

Bailey said this brings the total number of officers, including himself, up to 58.

He added that the department now has a total of six female officers on the force, which is “probably the most females we’ve ever had at the police department at one time.”

“Females in law enforcement is very important,” Bailey said. “I can remember when I was coming up being a policeman, we needed females and we didn’t have — nobody wanted it … But nowadays, they want to be there, and I want them to be there, and the guys appreciate that.”

Email: jmoore@register-herald.com

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(c)2023 The Register-Herald (Beckley, W.Va.)

Visit The Register-Herald (Beckley, W.Va.) at www.register-herald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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