AFD new Engine 1 (2013 Typhoon/E-MAX 1500/750/30)
While there's no question AFD is badly understaffed and Central Station is badly in need of replacement, their equipment at least is top notch.
This Bad Boy just arrived last week and is currently undergoing specialized small equipment installation and being stocked with routine supplies, but should be in service by the end of the month, just in time for the students return to our (currently) sleepy little college town.
The pumper was originally scheduled for purchase next year but the town moved it up to take advantage of low borrowing rates. And when your talking $400,000 even a small percentage makes a big difference.
Last May Town Meeting also approved an addition $20,000 for medical equipment and a specialized drug lock box to allow Engine 1 to act as a stop gap ambulance (but cannot transport a patient).
Let the training begin
This Bad Boy just arrived last week and is currently undergoing specialized small equipment installation and being stocked with routine supplies, but should be in service by the end of the month, just in time for the students return to our (currently) sleepy little college town.
The pumper was originally scheduled for purchase next year but the town moved it up to take advantage of low borrowing rates. And when your talking $400,000 even a small percentage makes a big difference.
Last May Town Meeting also approved an addition $20,000 for medical equipment and a specialized drug lock box to allow Engine 1 to act as a stop gap ambulance (but cannot transport a patient).
AFD Current Engine 1 ((2001 Cyclone ll 1500/750/30) at rest
Going out fighting:
Engine 1, alongside Ladder 1 and Engine 2 Southpoint Apartments
17 comments:
If you wanted to anger me about paying my taxes (no children), all you had to do was tell me it cost $400,000.
You could have hired four administrators for that price or paid the school superintendent for 2.3 years.
Seriously it seems like a lot but those vehicles get much service life for the cost.
Congrats AFD, your worth every penny!
Yes congrats AFD for your new vehicle and for serving your community as best you can for being under staffed.
GREAT PURCHASE for the AFD and for Amherst, now we just need a S. Amherst fire station. And...
Just dreaming but, if only we could use CPAC funds to pay for public safety instead of feel-good bs. This amount is thrown away every year on "preservation", i.e. taking property off the tax rolls. Would be much better to buy a couple of street sweepers and chippers and clean up this one-horse town.
I agree, we could use a LOT more property on the tax rolls. CPA was nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Tom, am I reading this correctly that you are upset AFD bought a new engine? If so, ______(please insert most offensive, vulgar, and disrespectful insults known to man) because you are a terrible person.
Tom, with the many wasteful spending practices in Amherst aside, how much will that truck and its reliability be worth to you when it is YOUR life and property for which it is being used to save? Perhaps the town should buy and use a cheap SprawlMart model complete with subpar gaskets, vinyl garden house, and less than reliable pumps/drivetrain when responding to your needs. Fire trucks, ambulances, the specialty equipment they contain, and the staff required to utilize them adequately should be budgetary priorities in any community. $400K for that particular unit is very reasonable if you do a bit of research.
Hey Tom,
Math lesson for you. 400,000/14 (14 being the number of years in service) = 28,571 per year. I think 30K a year is a fair price for the sacrifices the department makes with short staffing. As the user below commented you could pay four, FOUR administrators at 100k per year at the total price and if they stick around for 14 years that a lot more than the fire truck.
Take it easy bud and research some facts. Amherst could be like other communities and buy 10 trucks at once but they don't. they simply ask to update every 14-15 years.
Just as a point of information, the apparatus currently assigned as Engine-1 is, as Larry posted, a 2001 E-One 1500 gallon per minute pumper with a 750 gallon booster tank and a 30 gallon foam tank. It currently has in the neighborhood of 90,000 miles and over 80,000 hours on the engine. This apparatus will remain in service with the department. It will be re-numbered as Engine-5 and will be housed at the central station as a reserve engine. The apparatus being disposed of is a 1996 HME pumper. It also has a 1500 gallon per minute pump and a 1000 gallon booster tank. It has served with the permanent force as well as the call and student forces at various times and has significantly more mileage and engine wear. Since 2009 it has been our reserve pumper.
While I understand that $400,000 is a significant amount of money, it is important to keep in mind that this pumper will likely serve the town for the next 20 years.
Jeff Parr
What if they made a pumper and there were no fireman to use it?
The argument some of you guys keep using--"how much will it be worth when it's YOUR life the truck is saving" (the answer is apparently "priceless"?) isn't based in any data or facts or real considerations people who make budgets and spend funds have to deal with. It's an appeal to fears and emotions. It probably seems effective to you, especially when no one answers the question, (because it's rhetorical,) but it really isn't a very persuasive argument.
Consider how ineffective this argument sounds: "How much is the education of a kid worth when it's YOUR kid's future we're talking about?"
Another line of argument that isn't effective: Man who questions tax-payer funded purchases is intimidated, deserves most vulgar epithets directed toward him by anonymous union-employee backers, is a terrible person.
Fear and intimidation and appeals to emotions over reason: union standards since the 19th century.
Anon 12:51, not fear and intimidation at all. Anon 2:10 even started with an acknowledgement of the wasteful spending practices that Amherst is muddled with. I think the point is that many do not understand that tax revenue is meant to serve a community as a whole, its worth not being determined by an individual's specific needs, on their specific schedule. Each taxpayer will benefit from some programs, and not others. Unfortunately Amherst is a community in which there is a very lopsided benefit structure. That said, Tom should should've analyzed the cost for the unit, years of service it will provide, and the paramount importance of that service before ranting about its cost. The town did well on this purchase and it is one of those expenses that truly benefits every citizen of Amherst.
All completely worthless to anybody that lives in a hill town with no water service.
Mommy Mommy! Here's the list of toys I want! Here's the prices, there's nothing more to consider! And if I don't get them, well, you'll see what happens next!
I'm not really sure what this last comment is trying to say. Like all things, fire apparatus has a finite life span. They wear out and need replacement. The replacements have a cost. The town, through its elected representatives, decide if and when the equipment will be replaced and what amount of money can be spent to replace it. In the case of fire apparatus, the fire department then creates a committee comprised of firefighters and fire officers, some with a mechanical background, to draw up specifications for the new equipment. Manufacturers then bid to supply the equipment. In this case, manufacturers listed on the state bid system were used to keep the cost lower. Once the manufacturer is selected, a contract is drawn up and the equipment is built and delivered. There are no scare tactics and the process is quite transparent.
Jeff Parr
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