Fire Dept. has single loaner; that could change

The Warwick Fire Department relied on only one loaned engine to fully staff the city’s nine stations Monday, although that could change at any moment, warned acting chief Marcel Fontenault.

Over the last month, the department has depended on as many as eight vehicles – a combination of engines, ladders and rescues – from other departments in a single day to cover for city vehicles out of commission for a variety of repairs. Fontenault can’t promise that won’t happen again.

“Some minor things have been fixed,” he said. “We have just one engine out right now.”

Looking long range, Fontenault said there needs to be a plan to replace some of the older vehicles. The department’s older trucks are used as reserves, filling in for the newer ones when they require preventive maintenance or experience a breakdown. But breakdowns with newer as well as reserve trucks have required the department to turn to other departments. Loaners have come from a number of municipalities, including North Providence, Coventry and North Kingstown.

On Wednesday the City Council awarded the $291,631 bid of New England Fire and Apparatus Equipment Corp. for a rescue to replace the Rescue 5, currently stationed at Station 4. Rescue 5 will then become Rescue 14, which will be used as a reserve.

In endorsing bid approval, Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur and chair of the finance committee called the new rescue “a revenue generating piece of equipment.”

“This isn't something that is just driving around the city or going wherever it goes. It is a revenue-generating piece of equipment,” he said. “I believe that in its life cycle it is going to pay for itself. That certainly makes sense to me.”

But while the council moved ahead with purchase of the rescue, it balked on the $848,070 bid for two Pierce Saber Stock Pumpers on the recommendation of Fontenault.

“We have some of their vehicles at this time. However, recently we've had some trouble with the model that we're looking at, so I think it's in our best interest at this time to hold this bid and go out to re-bid and we can look at the needs with the current administration and go forward and work together in purchasing some new fire equipment,” Fontenault told the finance committee.

In a phone interview Monday, Fontenault dispelled rumors that one of the city’s newer engines, a 2015 Pierce, was offline because of such a minor defect as a broken mirror. He didn’t describe the problem with the 2015 engine, but said there had been a broken mirror on a truck but it was offline no more than 20 minutes when a temporary replacement was installed.

Of the fully operational vehicles on the road, Fontenault said, “they have been inspected.” He also said the recurring breakdowns have not compromised the safety of Warwick residents as the department has been able to cover with the loaners.

The city has not been in the position to loan any of its reserves to other departments.

“We have nothing to loan out,” said Fontenault.

“The worst thing is a breakdown on a run,” said Fontenault. So far, there haven’t been any reports of that happening.

Replacing engines is an expensive proposition. Ideally, Fontenault would like to see the city acquire two new engines in the next year or two. He put the cost at $450,000 to $525,000 each and is hearing from vendors that the cost could be bumped up by five percent as a result of President Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Last September, the Finance Committee rejected a $350,000 bid for an engine, saying it could not commit to the expenditure so early in the fiscal year.

“Now that we have a new administration we have to look at the replacement process,” Fontenault said.