One big ticket item in Shaker Heights’ 2023 Capital Fund budget will be a new $1.1 million fire engine to replace the one dating back to 2003 and subject to supply chain issues, including cost and delivery time, Cleveland.com reported.

Fire engines used to cost $700,000 and now they’re over $1 million, a Shaker Heights fire official noted in the report. Where it normally took eight months to have it built and delivered, we’re looking at up to three years, the report said.

Council ordered a new ambulance in 2021 and we still haven’t seen it, the fire official said in the report.

Delivery for the new engine might not be until 2026, another reason to lock in the current price, with council also approving another $410,000 replacement rescue squad in the 2023 capital budget and a $55,000 administrative SUV, according to the report.

By Alan M. Petrillo

Some fire departments around the country continue to use the strategy of attacking a structure fire with a small quick-attack rig or mini-pumper before the big guns arrive on the scene. And manufacturers are responding to the need with minis and quick attacks that pack a much bigger punch than such rigs of earlier days.

Joe Messmer, president of Summit Fire Apparatus, says there seems to be a resurgence in the use of quick-attack trucks and mini-pumpers around the country. “We now can put a 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm)-rated pump on a Ford F-550 and on a Dodge RAM 5500 chassis because the pump manufacturers have developed bigger pumps that work on the smaller rigs,” Messmer says. “And the minis and quick attacks are great for fitting down narrow driveways and narrow roadways where full-size pumpers might have difficulty.”

While some departments are going with 1,500-gpm pumps on their small rigs, Messmer believes that the majority of the minis and quick attacks are being fitted with 1,250-gpm pumps and 300 gallons of water. “Weight is everything, and it’s cumulative on these vehicles, so you have to build the mini or quick attack for the majority of fire or rescue runs that the department has instead of for the biggest calls,” he says. Messmer also finds that many departments are putting foam systems and compressed air foam systems (CAFS) on their quick attacks and minis to make the best use of the minimal amounts of water carried.

• Quick-Attack Trucks, Mini Pumpers Continue to Be Mainstays in Many Departments
• Gallery: Mini Pumper Designs
• Mini Pumpers, Part 1: How Well Do They Really Work?
• Mini Pumpers, Part 2: Today and the Future
• The Cherry Grove (NY) Mighty Mini

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