Westborough fire chief asks for new command vehicle, ambulance and updated equipment in capital plan

Patrick Purcell, Westborough's fire chief, told the capital planning committee he is seeking multiple capital items for the fire department, including a replacement shift-commander vehicle, a new ambulance, updated cardiac monitors and phased replacement of portable radios. Purcell said the fire station is the town's only continuously staffed building and that the room targeted for audiovisual upgrades also serves as the community Emergency Operations Center, making redundancy and modern communications essential.

Purcell described the commander vehicle as a primary response and incident-command platform that supports fire prevention, EMS, hazardous-materials response and large-incident command. "The fire station is really, the only 24/7/365 staffed building around the clock," he said, arguing the vehicle needs cabinetry, two radios to monitor town and regional frequencies simultaneously and a control board to operate as a mobile command post.

The chief asked the committee to approve funds to replace the department's current command vehicle, saying the capital plan request includes $132,000 to replace that vehicle. He also reviewed the ambulance fleet and said deliveries have been delayed for new chassis. "We are seeing about a full year delivery time on ambulances," Purcell said, and the department is requesting $475,000 to order another ambulance; if approved at March town meeting, Purcell said he would expect delivery in 2029 or 2030.

Purcell outlined increased ambulance usage and fleet wear: the department operates four paramedic-level ambulances and he reported the town sees roughly "5,000 patients a year." That higher utilization has pushed mileages and engine hours up after the department moved away from a previous three-year replacement cycle. Purcell said ambulance revenue contributes to a reserve used for vehicle replacement and committee members cited a reserve deposit of about $200,000 a year from ambulance receipts.

Other department requests covered in Purcell's presentation include $150,000 to replace aging 12-lead cardiac monitors across the fleet, phased replacement of portable radios (replaced six years ago, with a multi-year approach to avoid a single-year $400,000 spike), and long-term planning for an East-side satellite station (transcript lists land acquisition on the capital plan at $22,550,000 and construction at $11,500,000 in FY28'FY29 estimates). Purcell also described a low-use but mission-critical water-rescue vehicle converted from a 2004 ambulance that the department operates regionally and trains with monthly.

Committee members asked operational questions about how the commander vehicle would be shared among four shift commanders, whether it remains at the station or is taken home, and how it differs from a police command vehicle; Purcell said it is a day-to-day primary command vehicle used on many fire and EMS calls and is not the larger, multi-agency police command asset. Members also asked about trade-in or auction options for replaced vehicles; Purcell said the town has used auction platforms and swaps to recover value.

The committee did not take a formal vote on Purcell's requests during the meeting; discussion continued as members moved on to the capital plan rating process. The next formal step is the committee's submission of rating spreadsheets to staff for compilation ahead of the committee meeting on Dec. 10.

Purcell: "We are seeing about a full year delivery time on ambulances."