West Union, Illinois | OK to continue my long response. First let's recap mikado - Our fire district serves 4 municipalities. 2 villages, 2 townships. ... a new fire truck. Right around a million. ... Chairman thinks nothing wrong with old 1 they would replace. 96 model with 28k miles. What are some pros and cons here. Having well working equipment but not spending needlessly is the same problem every fire dept, police dept, public utility, and every farmer and business faces. If I had to spend $1,000,000 on a combine I couldn't do it. But while my problem is financial, the fire dept also has rules, regulations, requirements, and public expectations to deal with. Oh, and the thing about saving lives and protecting property.
Back to my dept. We had a 96 IH pumper (with 2007 apparatus on it) and 96 Freightliner tender also with a newer tank and pump (for the folks not using fire service terminology that's a tanker). We discussed back and forth if we needed a second tender or a newer pumper. I could argue both directions. New was out of the question. We wanted newer but wanted to avoid DEF. For our low use it was felt DEF was just a liability.
The Chief came across a 2007 IH pumper / tender. All wheel drive, 1500 gallon tank, 1000+ GPM pump (I don't know exact rating) Only $118,000. I'm an old farmer I have trouble with only and $118,000 in the same sentence. We bought it, advertised our old truck and sold it to a fire dept in southwest Missouri. I told you all so you understand we've been there, done the best we could with what we have available to meet our needs.
4 municipalities, 2 villages, 2 townships, I can't imagine trying to make that many public decision makers happy. You are dealing with 8 budgets (9 counting your dept) and 40+ ways of looking at it. Someone is going to say "It's expensive but we gotta do it" while someone else is going to say "We don't need all that. You guys just want shiny chrome"
We don't have enough information to give good advice on which way is best to go. Good advice will require understanding your district, population, terrain, kind of use, on and on. When I think SW Wisconsin I think hills and hollers. What you need may be very different than mine. A slightly bigger all volunteer dept down the road a ways posted they are at 100 runs this year. 70% of their runs are EMS. We are at 8 runs. That's total. No EMS. No rescue. Our needs are different than theirs. Or yours. Don't let me or others tell you what we thing you need. Figure out what YOU need. For instance we have no need for a 5 person cab. If we have to wait for 5 people we may as well buy hot dogs on the way.
Sit down and analyze your runs. We sat down a few years ago and realized nearly 3/4 of our runs were non-structural fires. Field, woods, farm equipment, MVA's etc. That's important because it points to your needs. We bought a side by side with 100 gallon tank and a pump. It makes sense for us. May not for you. But we don't need a heavy rescue truck. Don't have the calls, equipment, budget or personnel for it. You might need it. A city pumper without a tank? Worthless to us.
You are going to have to sell your need. But first you gotta show it.
Don't go to the township Chairman with "We need a new truck" Go with "Here's what we are doing and what we are doing it with. We have a problem to solve and this is one of the ways to do it." Never go with only one answer. Go with 2 or 3 (no more than 3) alternatives.
But I will say this: The 30 year old truck today will be a 40 year old truck in 10 years. At the same time the complexity of some of the new trucks scares me. I think you do need a newer truck. I don't know you need brand new. But you need newer.
My best suggestion is get a sheet of legal paper and draw a line down the middle. Or make a 2 column spreadsheet. Either way, list pros and cons for replacing what you have with a new truck
Pro is you can spec what you need (maybe even what you want) and it should last a long time. You are not chasing parts for a 30+ year old truck.
Con is cost, lead times, cost overruns, and maybe not being able to afford what you really need. and paying for it.
Remember, in addition to being a firefighter, you have to be a salesman. You have to show a need and sell a solution. In my first reply I mentioned replacing tires. Going from "Do we really need to replace those tires?" to "call and order all new tires." was a short walk. My favorite Zig Ziglar quote is "Nobody ever changes their mind. But most people will make a new decision based on new information." You have to present information to change minds.
Edited by Mike SE IL 5/4/2025 02:48
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New fire truck for small fire district.
