Quinte West fire department to buy a new fire truck

By Bradley Bennett

BELLEVILLE – The Quinte West council approved the purchase of a new $521,000 fire truck as part of its capital expenditures for 2018.

The new truck is a demo truck from Darch Fire, located in Ayr, Ontario, Chief John Whelan said. It is already built and can be delivered in about a month, he added.

The new truck will cost the city $456,000 if they trade in two of the older trucks they already own: a 2009 Pumper truck worth $50,000 and another older truck from 1995 is worth $15,000.

Buying the truck as a pre-built demo saves the city $50,000 on the total cost of the truck. Alongside the trade in value of the older trucks.

The one of the old trucks has been having mechanical issues for a while and the other has been out of service because it is so old.

There are 38 vehicles in the fire department, spread over seven stations.

“Generally the fire trucks can last for 25 years,” Whelan said.

The other new equipment that is being looked at is a new fire hose for $10,000, a Can-Am Defender  for $15,900 and new jaws of life for $29,485.

The jaws of life is an updated model that runs on battery power so it is more portable than a wired jaws of life device. This new device will go to a station that does not have a portable device already.