Town Approves Request to Purchase Two Fire Engines

Fire Chief Jeffrey P. Lynch doesn't want a new fire engine. He wants two. And after Wednesday night's Portmsouth Town Council meeting, he's going to get both.

The fire chief recently showed Patch the deteriorating state of two fire engines currently housed in the garage at the Portsmouth Fire Department.

Lynch asked the Town Council to purchase one or two fire engines on Aug. 23. He went again before the Town Council on Wednesday, Sept. 16, for another try.

"The compartments are literally falling off the truck," Lynch said about Engine 3. "It doesn't make sense to put more than $8,000 of repairs into a truck that's 28 years old."

The request was made to avoid expensive repairs to Engine 3 and the poor condition of Engine 1.

According to Finance Director David Faucher, repairs for Engine 1 are estimated between $10,000 to $20,000 due to structural and paint defects. The engine also requires a refurbishment of approximately $220,000.

The truck has also stopped running four times while responding to emergency calls in the last year.

"Engine 1 has failed at four different times during operations in the past year, fortunately at times not critical to life or property," Faucher wrote in a letter to the council.

"I could easily see a firefighter getting his foot caught in the gaps in the metal," said Town Councilor James Seveney. "There's safety issues ... I can't sit here and ask another firefighter to get on that truck."

"We're in a tough predictament here," said Councilor Dennis Canario. "I just don't know how we'll pay for it."

The town's finance director estimates the cost of two engines to be $967,814, which reflects the cost of a performance bond, a discount for pre-payment and a discount for purchasing two engines instead of one.

The funds to purchase the two engines will be borrowed upon a five-year bond. The interest is estimated at $38,000 with an interest rate of 1.3 percent, according to Faucher.

The town will "piggy-back" on a competitive bid by The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), which was awarded in June to Greenwood Emergency Vehicle Inc. The MAPC is the regional planning agency for MetroBoston and issued a collective procurement on behalf of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts.

Lynch said the trade-in value for one of the trucks is $27,500.

"The whole (truck) body is shifting," the fire chief continued. "Every time I have repairs done, something else goes wrong."

The other aging truck, Engine 3, was refurbished in the 1990s and placed on reserve status. According to the fire chief, the "problem with it is the pump."

"It won't produce nearly enough gallons per minute or pressure," Lynch said.

On average, a fire pump will produce at 150, 200 or 250 pound-force per square inch (psi) at certain revolutions per minute (rpm), according to the fire chief.

"At maximum rpm, it won't even produce 150 psi," he said.

The new purchase will push the town over the spending cap for next fiscal year, according to Faucher, by $300,000.

Larry Fitzmorris, president of the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens, said the borrowing by the town council was in violation.

"You are not supposed to acquire debt over $50,000," Fitzmorris said. "That's state law. It's Article 6 under the state Constitution."

Fitzmorris also asked how the fire engines "got to this condition."

"It was low bid (at time of the engines' purchase) for a reason and now we're dealing with it," Lynch said.

"We got stuck with a lemon," Hamilton said.

The two new fire engines will be purchased from a different company and manufactured by E1 of Florida.

Councilor Karen Gleason said she would support the purchase if done after the Oct. 5 special referendum vote.

"I would support this motion if it was held in October," she said.

The Town Council approved the request for a contract with Greenwood Emergency Vehicle Inc. for $967,814 to purchase two fire engines. The trucks will be delivered within six to seven months.

The vote was 5 to 1 with Gleason opposed. Councilor Jeffrey Plumb was absent.