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Commissioners accept donated 1993 engine, approve roughly $82,000 to outfit county truck
Summary
Harris County voted to accept a donated 1993 fire engine from Carroll County and approved roughly $82,000 to outfit the vehicle for county use; assistant fire chief described condition, capacity and estimated repair costs.
Harris County Commissioners voted March 18 to accept a donated 1993 fire engine from Carroll County and to approve funding to outfit the vehicle for county service, using previously allocated Volunteer Fire Department funds.
Assistant Fire Chief Jason Westbrook presented the apparatus as a no-cost donation from Carroll County that became available when that county purchased new front-line engines. Westbrook said the 1993 model has about 46,000 miles, roughly 10,000 hours of use, carries 750 gallons of water and is rated at about 250 gallons per minute. He said the engine was a front-line unit in an area with relatively low call volume and that he expects multiple additional years of useful service if the county outfits and maintains it.
"It's got 46,000 miles on it, 10,000 hours," Westbrook said. "We feel that although the truck is of a certain age, we think that we can get a number of good years out of it." He also noted that while the pump "pumps great," a portion of the pump test showed a negative-pressure drafting issue; two vendors estimated repairs in the range of $3,500 to $5,000, he said.
The county had previously set aside $200,000 in its FY2023–24 budget for a Volunteer Fire Department vehicle for Northwest Harris; Westbrook presented outfitting quotes from multiple vendors and a bottom-line outfitting estimate of approximately $82,456. He said the commission could accept the truck as county property so the county shop would service it and the county would carry insurance. Commissioners moved to accept the truck as a county vehicle and to approve roughly $82,000 for outfitting; the motion carried. The meeting record does not show an individual roll-call of commissioners' votes.
County staff noted that outfitting quotations were compiled from several vendors and that final vendor submittals would be reviewed to ensure specification compliance before purchase. The county will also assume routine insurance and maintenance costs for the engine if accepted into the county fleet.
