|
Article Audio:
|
SCHENECTADY — The Schenectady Fire Department is set to replace a pair of outdated fire engines with a new truck after the agency received $800,000 in state funding to acquire the new apparatus.
The department currently has two 1999 American LaFrance Fire Engines in its reserve fleet that have over 128,000 miles of wear apiece.
With the manufacturer out of business, the department has had difficulty obtaining replacement parts for the fire engines, which are placed in service when the agency’s newer trucks are out of service for routine maintenance and repairs.
Seeking a new fire engine, the department approached Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam and Assemblyman Phil Steck, D-Colonie, with the pair securing $800,000 in state Community Resiliency Economic Sustainability & Technology Program funding for a new fire engine for the agency.
“It allows us to have a very stable and reliable spare fleet,” Schenectady Fire Chief Donald Mareno said of the new fire engine. “When I came on back in the stone ages [1991], our frontline vehicles were atrocious. They were rusted and there were holes in them. We bought rigs from other departments and one rig caught on fire as we were going to another fire. They were very unreliable and that was the frontline apparatus, we didn’t have any spares.”
The department has two new fire engines in its fleet along with the two 1999 American LaFrance vehicles that are utilized as spares, in addition to a full-scale truck company equipped with ladders and supplementary tools.
“This new fire truck is going to enhance their capabilities and improve response times,” Santabarbara said on Friday. “It’s going to contribute to the overall safety of the residents of Schenectady.”
Mareno said on Friday that the department has been informed by the state that the funding will not be available until July 2024.
“Then it depends on what’s available, if we decide to purchase something on the lot, so to speak, or we decide to have it built,” he said. “That will determine the time frame. I’m hoping to find something that’s suitable off of the lot.”
The phased out fire engines will be repurposed to serve as training equipment for the department after the units are stripped for parts.
“Our goal is to take both of those American LaFrance and take parts and create the best possible rig and use that as a spare,” Mareno said. “It would be down the pecking order, as long as it passes all of the tests and requirements. What’s remaining will be stored at our training tower and it’ll be used in training exercises.”
Santabaraba’s office secured $675,000 in funding for the fire engine, with Steck’s office requesting $125,000 for the project.
“They were looking for $800,000 and Assemblyman Steck and I have traditionally in the past partnered up on things like this,” Santabarbara said. “Assemblyman Steck does not represent much of the city anymore, so we asked him if he could contribute something towards the cost and he agreed to put some funding in. The bulk of it will be from my office as I represent a majority of the city.”
The Schenectady City Council voted to accept the state funding for the fire engine during its Monday night meeting.
“Now we have very good equipment thanks to the leadership of the mayor and the city council and our planning,” Mareno said. “Our frontline vehicles are very reliable. They’re new and now we have three very good spare engines and a spare truck. Our rigs get beat up all of the time and used all of the time, so they break down. Now we have good spare rigs that we can place in the front line, so it’s extremely important.”
Categories: Email Newsletter, News, Schenectady, Schenectady County
