Independence Township Fire Chief Mitch Petterson said they’re looking to reduce the number of vehicles in their fleet, as part of the fire department’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) .
The 23-year plan calls for $8.3 million in spending, of which over $1.9 million to be spent in 2017.
Petterson said they are looking to sell their current fire SUV and replace it with a mini pumper, as well as sell one of their fire engines, a ladder truck, heavy rescue truck, a brush truck and a rescue truck to offset the cost of a combined engine ladder truck. They also want to sell three medium duty ambulances to replace with smaller ones, and sell two PUC engines.
Petterson said sales costs of all vehicles are estimated to be over $1.9 million and purchases for the new ones are estimated over $2.2 million. Reducing the fleet count from 12 to eight would help them save how much they need to replace in the future and less trucks they need to maintain, as well as get rid of vehicles that are un-staffed and sitting in the station.
Petterson said the idea is to have a more “versatile fleet.”