At Tuesday’s township Board of Trustees meeting, the board voted to use $47,000 to purchase six new air packs and 12 bottles for compressed air for use by township firefighters.

The packs, which will be identical to another set purchased five years ago, will be paid for using accumulated money from a property tax for equipment passed by voters two years ago.

The 0.65-mill tax costs the owner of a $100,000 house about $32.50 a year.

The tax, used last summer for the purchase of two new ambulances and power cots, will accumulate another $675,000 over the final three years of its life, which, added to the approximately $20,000 leftover after the purchase of the air packs, should provide about $700,000 toward the department’s next big purchase, according to Nathan Skibbe, township supervisor.

News Photo by Julie Riddle An Alpena Township Fire Department firefighter talks outside the north side station in April. The township will purchase new equipment to help emergency responders fight fires, the township board decided Tuesday.

The board is in the process of gathering proposals for the purchase of a new fire engine — equipment Skibbe said could cost anywhere from a quarter-million dollars to “in the millions.” Although, he added, the board will strive to keep the cost below the amount made available through the tax.

The six new air packs will replace a used set picked up last fall to tide the department over and will match others used by firefighters regularly, increasing safety, according to Alpena Township Fire Chief Dave Robbins.

Built-in thermal imaging cameras will also up the safety level as firefighters work to save property or lives.

A proposed purchase of seven new sets of turnout gear — the ponderous, fireproof pants and coats worn by firefighters at almost every emergency scene — was tabled to allow time for a search for grants to help cover their cost.

The new gear, made of a lighter fabric, could be worn at car crashes and other scenes with minimal fire danger, helping the heavier gear last longer and making for fewer miserably hot hours on warm summer days for those wearing them, Skibbe explained.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.