Merrimac Fire Department Chief Larry Fisher announced the arrival of the fire department’s new Engine 32, the department said in a news release last week. 

Supplier E-One of Florida delivered the Spartan/E-One engine on Friday, Feb. 17, five months ahead of schedule.

The new engine can carry up to six firefighters. It can carry a 1,000-gallon water supply and can pump 1,500 gallons per minute. The engine will be equipped with extraction tools, hose lines, hand tools, cribbing, ventilation equipment, and more. The engine will also have a new set of radios, purchased though a Firefighter Safety and Equipment Grant from the Department of Fire Services.

Engine 32 is scheduled to begin service in late March. It replaces an engine that was purchased in 1991. 

Town Meeting approved the purchase of a new ladder truck in 2021. At the time Chief Fisher proposed purchasing a truck designed for the community’s needs, with  necessary functionality but without unnecessary features.

Ladder trucks typically start at $1.3 million. By working with designer Greenwood Fire Apparatus, the truck could be built at a much lower cost, leaving a surplus in the warrant article. The ladder truck is set to be delivered this summer.

Chief Fisher then approached the Town for permission to purchase an engine through the same needs-based review using money from the Apparatus Reserve Fund.  A new engine can cost $600,000 to $800,000. Engine 32 will cost the Town $395,000.

This approach has saved Merrimac taxpayers more than $500,000. Members will now undertake the task of mounting all the equipment, which will save approximately $15,000.

“Thank you to Town of Merrimac and our community for once again supporting the Department,” said Chief Fisher. “This new engine will really provide our members with a sense of pride and instill confidence in them. They now have the equipment to support them to be the best they can be. Knowing we have the ability to do our jobs more effectively is huge, and we are excited to get Engine 32 ready for service.” 

In recognition of this support, Engine 32 displays a unique decal highlighting the Merrimac Fire Department logo and the Town of Merrimac seal, and reads “In a Partnership with Our Community.” 

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St. Tammany Parish Fire Protection officials said one of their fire trucks had an accident Monday morning on Highway 435, injuring one, wwltv.com reported. 

Representatives from District Seven said that a firefighter was airlifted to University Medical Center afterward, the report said.

According to its investigation, Louisiana State Police stated that an object was left on the road, officials said. When the driver spotted the item in the road, he apparently steered left, smacking into a tree, the report said. The driver of the truck was then trapped inside, according to the report. 

Fire District Seven said that crews arrived afterward to clear debris from the roadway, the report said. 

Another fire district, District 12, has lent one of its fire trucks to temporarily replace the damaged vehicle. 

Abigail Brone
The Hour, Norwalk, Conn.
(TNS)

Feb. 22—NORWALK — With the estimates for two new fire trucks coming in far over budget, the Norwalk Police Department offered up nearly $500,000 in surplus funds from the communication system upgrade to help cover the costs.

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved a special capital appropriation request from the fire department for $489,225 at a meeting Feb. 16, according to city documents.

The funds will cover the remaining balance to buy two new fire trucks, Norwalk budget director Tom Ellis said. Funds for the trucks will be transferred from excess police department money intended for a communications system upgrade.

• Approved Cost of Two Norwalk (CT) Fire Trucks Jumps 36% from Original Budget Request

Over the summer, it was revealed that a police department project to upgrade its communication system came in millions under budget.

“That project is moving along rather smoothly; they have not had to purchase all the new equipment that they anticipated several years back when they put in the request and they are expecting a significant underrun in that capital project,” Ellis said.

The communications console project has been in the works for several years and had an original anticipated cost of about $15 million.

In the 2020-21 fiscal year capital budget, the police department and combined dispatch received $13.5 million for a “communication console.” Deputy Police Chief Terry Blake previously confirmed the $5.6 million for the system will be taken from the $13.5 million capital appropriation.

With the excess funds, the fire department reached out to police, to determine whether they would share the surplus funds, Ellis said. The police department was cooperative and good partners throughout the agreement, he said.

“We came up with this idea to work with the police department to see how much they were going to underrun that communications project, ask them if they would be willing to transfer a portion of their remaining or unexpected surplus funds to the fire department to get this done,” Ellis said. “Even with this advancement, they’re still expected to underrun the project, so as challenging as the fire department run is in terms of supply chain issues and inflation, the police department run seems to be just the opposite.”

For the fiscal year 2021-22, the fire department submitted a capital budget request for two new pumpers, fire trucks that carry water, Norwalk Fire Chief Gino Gatto said.

“We were not awarded that one, so the following year we had to put in for two engines, which his (fiscal year) 2022-23. We were granted $1.35 million for purchase of two fire engines,” Gatto said. “I believed $675,000 was enough to cover both of them. Unfortunately, the specs were drawn up, we went out to bid, we received two bid responses from two different fire manufacturers.”

The two bids came in hundreds of thousands of dollars above the anticipated budget for the trucks, with the low bid of $1,839,225 from Pierce Manufacturing and a higher bid from another company for $2,092,337, Gatto said.

The $500,000 requested by the fire department will cover the difference between what was previously appropriated and the lowest bid amount, Gatto said.

Now, the police offered to put some of the unneeded communications system funds toward the fire trucks, Gatto said. Fire engine 3, located at the Van Zant Street station, and engine 5 at the Middle Street station will be replaced.

“The way we operate is we try to keep t