Lawrence to add more fire trucks

Friday, June 27, 2008

Lawrence will add new fire trucks and a new rescue vehicle by 2009, and the new trucks won’t cost Lawrence residents a thing.

City commissioners voted unanimously June 17, to grant the city approximately $1.2 million in general obligation bonds for the purchase of two new fire engines and one technical rescue vehicle. The city will not raise taxes to cover the cost of the new equipment.

The decision came after Fire Chief Mark Bradford requested that the city replace aging equipment.

Photo by Kristin Hoppa

A Latter 2 fire engine sits on reserve at the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical Station Tuesday. The department needed a reserve truck at the station while another truck was out for body repairs.

Bradford said the equipment was costing the city thousands of dollars in maintenance repairs.

Bill Stark, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Division chief, said one current fire engine was used about 50 percent of the year and had more than 100,000 miles on it.

“We were concerned with the reliability of these trucks,” Stark said.

In addition to the two fire trucks, a technical rescue vehicle will hit the streets for the first time in Lawrence. The vehicle will bring rescue equipment to emergencies.

The department had previously converted an old, retired fire truck into a rescue vehicle that carried water, trench and carry ropes for firefighters. The truck recently went under repair itself. Currently the city is using trailers to take rescue equipment to the scene.

“We still have stuff sitting on the floor in stations,” Stark said. “It’s not a good way to do business, and it puts our firefighters at risk.”

Stark said he hoped to get the city to approve a regular replacement schedule for fire equipment. City garbage trucks get replaced about every seven years and city police cars get replaced more frequently because of the number of miles put on the cars.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical stations have no such schedule. Starks said he hoped to retire older trucks on a regular basis in the future.

Paperwork to complete the agreement is set to be signed within the next few months and within the next 270 days the new vehicles will be delivered.

“If we are going to do our job,” said Stark, “then we are going to do it right.”

— Edited by Asher Fusco

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