News Photo by Steve Schulwitz On Tuesday, Alpena Fire Chief Rob Edmonds stands next to a fire truck that is going to be replaced. The truck looks shiny and new on the outside, but it is 28 years old and beginning to have issues underneath the surface. The cost of the new fire truck is about $855,000, but won’t be delivered for two to four years.

ALPENA — The Alpena Municipal Council voted on Monday to spend $855,000 from its savings to purchase a new pumper truck for the city Fire Department.

It also set aside an additional $2.3 million to purchase a new ladder truck, should the city’s request to U.S. Sen. Gary Peters for federal money for the replacement of the city’s aerial fire truck pass.

The council did not commit the money for the ladder truck because, if it had committed to spend it, it would have made the city ineligible for the federal money. It is allowed to hold it in reserve, however.

Alpena Fire Chief Rob Edmonds said the first truck to be replaced is 28 years old, and, although it looks shiny and new on the exterior, the guts of the truck are beginning to fail and will be costly to repair.

He said the pumping system on the truck doesn’t pressurize the way it did years ago and pipes and fittings have become corroded over time and are beginning to crack.

Edmonds said much of the firefighting fleet is aged beyond its recommended lifespan. He said the current ladder truck is 30 years old and another pumper truck is a 2002. The newest addition to the fleet is the city’s mini pumper, which is often dispatched for medical runs. That truck is a 2015, but, although it is fitting for small fires, it is not equipped to handle large emergencies.

Edmonds said the Fire Department, city staff, and the council are working on a vehicle replacement schedule so the fleet doesn’t age to the point it is now.

“We are working on that now and will have a plan in place so no truck will be older than 30 years old,” he said. “The National Fire Protection Association’s recommendation and the national industry standard says no frontline apparatus should be older than 15 years old and, once it hits 25 years old, it should be retired.”

Edmonds said the company that builds and sells the fire trucks, E-One, wouldn’t take the old pumper in as a trade-in to help lower the cost. He added that there may be some life left in it and another department in Michigan may want to purchase it. That revenue could be placed back in savings and used toward the purchase of another truck in the future.

Edmonds said the ladder truck has more value and E-One would offer the city a trade-in price, but, he said, the ladder truck may have more value on the open market.

“We’ll crunch the numbers and do what we can to get the best value,” he said.

Edmonds and the rest of the city officials who were involved in the purchase of the truck did their homework before choosing what brand and type of truck to get. He said officials from Alpena visited fire departments around Michigan to scope them out and learn more about their performance.

“We looked at nine apparatuses between Monroe and Alpena,” he said. “We looked at the design quality and build, and we actually talked to each department and asked them about pros and cons. We talked to the users to see if they would buy that truck again.”

Buying a fire truck isn’t like purchasing other vehicles, as the truck has to be designed to specifications and built from the ground up.

Edmonds said he anticipates it will take between two and four years for the truck to be built and delivered. He added that each truck will be outfitted with new gear, which is something that doesn’t typically happen when the city purchases a truck.

“The truck does not come with new equipment, but I’ve been here 28 years and with all of the apparatuses we purchased, we never got new equipment,” he said. “We’re going to change that. A lot of that equipment is aging out and we have maintenance and durability concerns. The plan is, when we get the money for the trucks, we’ll set aside money to outfit them with all brand new gear.”