For Immediate Release

Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019

Media Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

*CALENDAR LISTINGS*

Enfield Fire Rescue District 1 Encourages Residents to Attend Upcoming Meetings Regarding New Apparatus

ENFIELD, Connecticut — Fire Chief Edward Richards would like to encourage residents to attend two important meetings this month regarding the District’s proposal to purchase to two new apparatus.

“We are asking District voters to approve funds to allow us to replace the two oldest vehicles in our fleet,” Chief Richards said. “Our pumper truck is 27 years old and our aerial ladder truck is 31 years old. While these vehicles have served our department well, both have exceeded their projected lifespan by 6 to 7 years, and the new apparatus would allow us to better serve our community and improve firefighter safety.”

WHEN:

Informational Meeting – Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Special District Meeting – Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE:

Both meetings will be held at the Enfield Fire Department District 1 Headquarters, 200 Phoenix Ave.

WHAT:

The meeting on Jan. 10 will be an informational meeting where Chief Richards will present information about the proposed apparatus purchases and the apparatus being replaced.

The apparatus sought for replacement are:

• 1991 Pierce Arrow Pumper
• 1988 Pierce Arrow 110’ tower ladder

If funding is approved, the District will sell the older apparatus and the vehicles would not be held in reserve or spare status.

The vehicles the District are seeking to purchase would be manufactured by Pierce Manufacturing, a Wisconsin-based company.

The new pumper would have a six-person cab with air conditioning and emergency medical personnel support cabinetry that allows for EMS to have easier access to the vital equipment and resources they need while out on a call.

The new pumper would also take on a bigger assignment role than its predecessor by reducing the demands on other apparatus that currently experience very heavy usage.

The new aerial ladder would carry six crew members and is a near-direct replacement of the current truck. However, the new truck would come with a 300 gallon water tank, air conditioning and capability to pump more gallons of water per minute.

The projected cost to purchase the pumper would be $825,000 and the cost of the aerial ladder truck would be $1.4 million.

The meeting on Jan. 17 would be a Special District Meeting where voters of the District would determine whether or not to approve the purchase of the new apparatus as proposed by Chief Richards and the Fire Commissioners.

The committees for these vehicles started working on the specifications and exploring options in 2013. Several hours of research and design considerations have gone into developing the final proposal to voters.

The district’s current fleet of vehicles includes two engines, two quints, one aerial ladder truck, a quick attack pumper, a brush truck and a heavy rescue engine.

In 2018 the department handled 1,260 calls of various types, almost 500 of which were calls requiring engines to respond and the rest were medical or alarm calls handled by one or two companies or a duty officer.

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