Queen Creek council approves $7.8M for five fire trucks

Supply chain disruptions continue to hit hard in various industries, and now the Queen Creek Fire and Medical Department is working to solve the problem of bringing enough fire trucks online in what it contends is a cost efficient and timely manner.

To that end, the Queen Creek Town Council has approved an amendment to a cooperative purchase agreement with Hughes Fire Equipment Inc. for acquiring five fire trucks for an amount not to exceed roughly $7.83 million.

The agreement was part of the council’s consent agenda during its May 20 meeting. All items on the consent agenda are voted on with one vote unless a member of the council or public asks the item to be removed for a separate discussion and/or vote.

“The purchase and acquisition of these apparatuses used to be fairly straightforward in terms of the time line needed for the completion of these pieces of equipment; this has all changed with the introduction of supply chain delays,” a staff reported stated.

In the past, a fire truck could be ordered and delivered by a manufacturer in about one year. But times have changed.

“In recent months this time line has fluctuated between three and four years with four years being the current time line. This four-year time frame has been the ‘norm’ for about six to eight months with no anticipation of this changing any time soon,” the report stated. “These long-lead time issues are not isolated to one manufacturer and the supply chain problems and delays exist industry-wide with all fire truck manufacturers.”

In keeping with the town’s ongoing capital improvement plan there will be five fire trucks brought forward as part of the amendment approval request.

The trucks are critical as the capital improvement plan includes building two new fire stations. Fire Station No. 6, at Riggs and Crismon roads, is planned for fiscal year 2028 and will require one fire pumper truck.

Fire Station No. 7 will be in the northeast part of Queen Creek near the newly annexed Arizona state lands. That is planned for fiscal year 2030.

“Due to the heavy emphasis on commercial- and industrial-based businesses in this area, two fire apparatuses are needed: a ladder truck and ladder tender unit. For Queen Creek, ladder trucks are the largest pieces of equipment and ladder tenders are much like a fire pumper truck, which are placed at fire stations as a ‘complementary unit’ to the ladder truck,” the report stated.

The benefit of having a ladder tender truck at the same fire station is the tender can respond to certain types of calls and save the wear and tear on the larger ladder truck.

The fourth fire apparatus would be a unit capable of responding to hazardous material related incidents “based on the type of manufacturing being performed in the northeast part of Queen Creek.”

“It is very common for municipalities to add these types of fire apparatus when large-scale manufacturing is present. Hazardous material units are very similar to a fire pumper truck but carry more specialized equipment,” the report stated. “The timing of this fire unit being utilized operationally would be during fiscal year 2028.”

Finally, one fire pumper truck will need to be replaced in fiscal year 2029 in keeping with the apparatus-replacement schedule the town follows. The fire pumper assigned to Fire Station No. 4 is a 2019 model year and is scheduled for replacement based on national standards.

“This does not mean that the current Engine 414 is no longer an asset for Queen Creek, it simply means that this fire truck moves from front-line service to reserve status. Reserve units are utilized, and placed into temporary front line use, when repairs are needed to the regular front line units,” according to the report.

Funding for the more than $7.8 million required to buy the vehicles is not included in the fiscal year 2023-24 budget. The department is asking that a budget adjustment from the town’s contingency budget in the needed amount is necessary to approve the amended contract.

“Purchasing and paying for the units now will avoid a future cost increase of $2,309,000, and a discount of $812,586, for a total savings of $3,121,550, compared to purchasing the units in a future fiscal year and not paying the full amount up front.,” the report stated.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.