Arnold struggling to gather money to replace 30-year-old fire engine

While a collector has taken an old fire truck off New Kensington’s hands, firefighters and officials in Arnold are struggling to replace their 30-year-old engine.

Arnold has $225,000 from federal grant funding set aside to buy a new truck, according to Rick Rayburg, the city’s community development director.

But a truck is expected to cost between about $800,000 and $1 million, based on five price quotes the fire department recently received, Chief Eric Gartley said.

The fire department applied for a $525,000 to $530,000 grant from the Assistance to Firefighters Grants program, under the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

They made it to the final round of the highly competitive program before being rejected because the program ran out of money. They plan to try again, Gartley said.

The fire department believed the city was going to seek formal bids at the same time it sought prices from manufacturers, but it never did, Gartley said.

“They don’t have the money to pay for it,” Rayburg said. “We don’t have the funding in place to buy a fire truck.”

Mayor Shannon Santucci was not able to explain why bids were not sought.

Formal bids would be required to buy a truck, which could not be done with the price quotes the department solicited, Gartley said.

Gartley said the department sought quotes to get a better handle on prices and because of a deadline for use of the funding, which comes from the federal Community Development Block Grant program.

Arnold’s money consists of $110,000 from CDBG fiscal year 2022, $75,000 from 2023 and $40,000 from 2024. It would have to be spent by March 2026, Rayburg said.

The city is not in a financial position to come up with or borrow the additional money needed, Santucci said.

“I sure wish we were in a position to give them the truck that they wanted,” she said. “We’re not saying they don’t need it. We’re not saying we don’t want them to have it. It’s getting the finances.”

Arnold has not budgeted money for replacing fire trucks for a long time, according to fire department spokesman Chris O’Leath. Covid relief funds that could have been used were spent on police overtime, he said.

A truck will only get more expensive as time passes, with O’Leath saying an $80,000 minimum increase is coming next year because of new emissions systems.

Time is an issue in addition to money. Manufacturers have said it would take three years for a new truck to arrive, Gartley said.

With no plan on how to proceed, Gartley said the department will talk with city officials to see what they’re willing to do. Another possible scenario, he said, would be to buy a used truck, possibly 10 years old, which the city could afford.

Arnold’s 1994 HME is its only engine and one of the fire department’s three vehicles. It is fully operational, Gartley said.

But, “It’s 30 years old,” he said. “Parts are getting harder to find.”

When the department gets another engine, the HME would be kept as a reserve backup truck. It would not have much value if sold or traded in, Gartley said.

“The older equipment doesn’t have any value to them,” he said.