MINOA — At its July 10 meeting, the Minoa Village Board approved a plan to sell two of the village fire department’s vehicles and purchase a smaller one from Fayetteville’s department.
Presenting the proposal to the board members that evening, Minoa Fire Chief Don Grevelding outlined how the purchase would optimize efficiency and ensure fiscal responsibility.
According to Grevelding’s report, it can be a challenge for his department to depend on its current volunteer base to man and operate a larger apparatus effectively and get it out on the road. He said that during the day Monday through Friday the department relies on its mutual aid partners “immensely” and can normally turn out two to three of its own volunteers for a daytime call.
It was additionally stated that on most of its calls the Minoa Fire Department’s larger vehicles never leave the station.
In order to “work smarter” and “save money,” the Minoa department is choosing to slightly downsize its fleet with regard to quantity of vehicles and the proportions of the replacement vehicle being purchased. That approach will be matched with continued minimal staffing requirements so its responders can be on the scene more quickly to identify a hazard and either mitigate it then and there with its personnel if possible or request immediate mutual aid response.
According to Grevelding, for the last nine months or so the Minoa department has allowed its core volunteers to “live their lives and not revolve around the fire service 24/7” by keeping in place duty crews that have hour-to-hour shifts and handle the majority of responses with no additional help needed.
The approved purchase plan entails the selling of two vehicles—a 2009 E-One Fire Ranger and a 1999 E-One/Salisbury Rescue Pumper—and with that the acquisition of a 2019 Mini 37 Pierce Initial Fire Attack Unit.
In considering whether to purchase the smaller vehicle, a focus was put on the expense of repairing the nearly 25-year-old rescue pumper, which is called Engine 24. It was detailed in the department’s report that an exact replacement for that engine would cost around $974,000 with the order taking at least 48 months to arrive.
The other vehicle being sold, the brush fire front-line unit referred to as Squad 2, would cost about $350,000 to replace in today’s market with an 18-to-24-month wait.
The 2019 mini pumper would be acquired from the village of Fayetteville for $235,000, and the purchase would be facilitated with the expenditure of $59,500 from Minoa’s capital reserve fund for fire equipment if authorized by a permissive referendum.
Minoa Mayor Bill Brazill said the payment plan is still being worked out but that the proceeds from the sales of Engine 24 and Squad 2 will go to the village of Fayetteville.
The smaller, newer pumper can be operated by as few as two firefighters, including the younger volunteers who are qualified to drive smaller vehicles and not the large engines. A pair of firefighters is all it takes to initiate a structural or vehicle-related fire response, even if it’s nothing more than dropping the initial hydrant line for the supply of a larger apparatus or pre-deployment of an attack line for the next incoming fire engine, the report stated.
The 2019 Mini 37 has a 261-gallon water tank in comparison to Squad 2’s 300-gallon tank and Engine 24’s 750-gallon tank.
