The town of Wolfeboro (NH) recently entertained a request from apparatus manufacturer Seagrave Fire Apparatus for additional funding to complete delivery of a fire truck for the community.

A YouTube video from the town’s Board of Selectmen captured the interaction. Dennis Warren, director of national sales at Seagrave Fire Apparatus, appeared before the board on July 20 to discuss issues impacting the manufacturer’s delivery of the fire truck. Warren cited supply chain issues and skyrocketing costs of various apparatus components as reasons for asking the town for more funding.

Warren used the term “commercially impractical,” saying that Seagrave faced a loss of more than $226,000 were they to deliver the rig without receiving additional funds from the town.

“If we build your truck, and there’s 50 other trucks that’s on this list…that’s up and down the coast here and out in the Midwest and out on the West Coast,” Warren told officials. “If we build those trucks we likely by the end of the year are going to go out of business. It’s just that simple because we cannot we cannot give away or pay the additional $250,000 to build the truck.”

Supply chain issues have been cited recently in other complications regarding apparatus purchases around the country.

• Valdosta (GA) Fire Department Purchases Demo Truck to Avoid Supply Chain Issues
• Supply Chain Uncertainties Causes Wiscasset (ME) to Delay Fire Tanker Purchase
• Supply Chain Shortage Affecting Shreveport (LA) Fire Department

At an August 3 selectmen’s meeting, Town Manager James Pineo said he had been in touch with Wolfeboro legal counsel and discussed their options. He said the town could take the money out of the capital reserve account or hold a special meeting to ask voters if they wanted to pay the difference.

Ultimately, however, Pineo said a decision to challenge Seagrave has been made.

“With some discussion with legal counsel, we have sent a letter to Seagrave telling them to deliver the truck for the contracted price or we’ll see you in court,” Pineo said during the August 3 meeting. “That’s where that lies. We’ll see what happens from that point.”

Firefighters with the El Paso (TX) Fire Department are planning two wet down and push in ceremonies to dedicate a new rescue truck and a pumper, according to a report published by KFOX14.

According to the report, Rescue 19 will be dedicated a ceremony tomorrow (Aug. 6) at the Station 19, 2405 McRae Blvd, at 11 am and Pumper 21 will be dedicated on Saturday, Aug. 13, at 11 am at Fire Station 21, 10000 Dyer St.

The television station reported the wet down and push-in traditions date back to the 1800s when crews would wash and ready horses and prepare the apparatus for the next call.

The events are open to the public.

Rachel Barber

Daily Item, Lynn, Mass.

(TNS)

SAUGUS — Though conversations surrounding the construction of a third fire station date back to as early as 1965, the town is the “closest it has ever been” to achieving that goal, according to Saugus Fire Capt. Bill Cross.

Following decades of population, and commercial and developmental growth, town leaders and outside consultants agree that there is a definitive need for a new fire station in the western part of Saugus. Using data from 2015 to 2019, consultants from Municipal Resources Inc. assessed the overall efficiency of the town’s fire, rescue, emergency medical services, and delivery systems. Municipal Resources Inc. published the study in March 2021 and formally recommended Saugus move forward with the process of designing, financing, and constructing a new fire and EMS station in the area of town west of Route 1.

“We have to keep up with all the development in Saugus,” Board of Selectmen Chair Anthony Cogliano said. “With thousands of apartments being built in the next few years, it’s going to be absolutely necessary to build that station.”

The 2021 report found that while 50 to 60 percent of Saugus is within a four-minute drive from the closest fire station, over 38 percent of Saugus Fire Department responses take longer than the recommended total response time, which is six minutes. The primary areas outside of the recommended four-minute drive time are those west of Route 1, and in North Saugus, mostly north of Walnut Street.

The construction of a third station would seek to remedy this disparity and would also decrease the overall average response time in Saugus, according to the report.

Cross, who also serves as union president of Saugus Firefighters Local 1003, said response times to areas like the Golden Hills are even lower than the 2021 report found. Response times to that area average around 10 to 12 minutes, which is also lower than the National Fire Protection Association’s nine-minute and 20-second standard, he said.

“[The consultant] did his response times during the pandemic when he didn’t get a true picture of what it’s like,” Cross said. “When there’s Route 1 traffic and schools letting out — maybe there’s Christmas traffic too and then you throw in a snow storm — it’s really not that easy to get around.”

The 2021 report stressed, however, that citizens of Saugus should feel confident that the Saugus Fire Department is still able to act as a professional and capable public safety organization thanks to the dedication of its members. Cross said his first responsibility as union president is to keep his firefighters safe and that there is an increased danger that accompanies longer response times.

“The guys that work here do a lot with not enough,” Cross said. “The fires of today make it a different job than it was 30 years ago so response times become more and more critical for us every day.”

Cross explained that his union leveraged a ballot question about the construction of a third station in the 2000s that Saugus voters ultimately did not pass. He attributed its failure to the fact that voters had to flip the ballot over to see the question and many did not, as well as concerns that Saugus would hire an unnecessary amount of firefighters.

However, the 2021 report determined that the Saugus Fire Department should employ, at minimum, one lieutenant and two firefighters in addition to an engine or quint fire truck at a third station.

Cross said while

Oceanside (CA) Fire Department has broken ground for a new fire station to replace a building that was constructed in 1929 in the heart of the city, according to a report published by The Coast News Group.

According to the report the new fire station project, with a price tag of $18 million is being funded with money from Measure X and a $3.5 million grant from the federal Defense Community Infrastructure Program.

The new station will have two levels with five bays, a lobby and conference and training rooms on the first floor, according to the report, while the second floor will have accommodations for 12 staff members, shared bathrooms and a kitchen. It will also have solar panels on the roof, the report said.