The Lake Havasu City Council on Sept. 23 approved two items aimed at improving fire-department operations: a cooperative purchase of a new G2 station alerting system and a contract for refurbishment of a 2014 Pierce fire engine.

Fire Chief (recorded) described the existing station alerting system as 24 years old and said the department is migrating to a new CAD interface and needs a modern, NFPA-compliant alerting system. The council approved cooperative purchase and installation and maintenance of the G2 system from Honeywell International Inc. through US Digital Designs Group for $760,077.30; staff said the cost was included in the IT budget. Staff acknowledged an annual maintenance cost for the software beyond the initial purchase.

On the vehicle side, the council approved a refurbishment of the department's 2014 Pierce Velocity engine. Staff said the refurb follows the department's five-year vehicle replacement/refurbishment plan; refurbishment work will extend a rig's useful life by roughly 10 to 15 years. The city budgeted $475,000; the quote from Firetrucks Unlimited totaled $510,356 for the work and staff asked authorization for an amount not to exceed $600,000 to cover unforeseen items found during refurbishment. The work is estimated to take 12'18 months depending on work discovered after teardown. The motions for both purchases passed unanimously, 7-0.

City staff said the alerting system and the refurbishment are cost-effective steps to maintain department readiness while new apparatus remain on order with long lead times.