Doug Williams, fire chief of Fire District No. 1, told commissioners during the agenda review that the district plans to change how it supplies breathing air to stations by installing station compressors at multiple fire stations instead of depending solely on a large mobile air truck.

Williams said the current mobile air truck is a 2010 vehicle that the district has deferred on the fleet-replacement plan, but which will soon require replacement. He said replacing the truck with the current configuration — compressor, large generator and support systems — would cost about $1.5 million and would take three to four years to build. He said installing compressors in stations costs “a little more than” $30,000 each when freight is included, and that specific bids he reviewed were in the mid-$30,000 range.

“Right now that truck, to replace it today, it’s a 2010 truck. … we really don't wanna spend $1,500,000 on a support vehicle,” Williams said. He told the commission the plan is to purchase three station compressors from special equipment funds so the mobile air truck can be scaled down and its life extended. Williams said the change should save at least half a million dollars when the truck is eventually replaced and reduce the weekly operational burden: the mobile truck currently must make a county-wide circuit each Monday to refill station cascades, a process that leaves Station 37 short staffed for the day and incurs fuel and mileage costs.

Williams said the mobile truck will still be used for incident support because it carries 40 to 50 cylinders and rehab equipment, but that a future replacement vehicle would likely be smaller and cost roughly $500,000–$600,000 rather than $1.5 million. Commissioners asked whether the plan would cover Station 32; Williams said the new compressors will reduce the mobile-truck workload so mobile support would be needed less frequently and mainly for relay support to stations such as 32.

The fire chief asked for procurement authority on the bid board to purchase three compressors; the agenda review did not record a formal vote. If approved by the governing body, the purchases would come from special equipment funds and the district would reconfigure future vehicle replacement plans accordingly.