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Fire chief: new tower truck finalized; rescue truck repaired after generator fire, HVAC problems may cost tens of thousands
Summary
The chief reported the new $1.9 million tower truck has been transferred and will return for lettering and training soon; insurance settled a damaged rescue truck and the board approved roughly $78,000 to repair it. Separately, building HVAC failures after a cold snap require immediate repairs and potential $70,000 replacement of a makeup air unit.
Woodbridge's fire chief told the board the new tower truck bought for about $1.9 million has been finalized at the manufacturer and is being readied for lettering and equipment mounting; the truck is expected back in town in roughly three weeks and likely to enter service around April 1 after training.
"The truck is officially moved over to us," the chief said, adding that training will likely run a week with sessions in the evenings and a weekend and that crew in'house training is expected in mid'March.
The chief also reviewed an October fire on a rescue truck. That incident damaged an integrated generator and amp kit system for which parts are no longer manufactured. After negotiations, the insurance company issued a settlement check of about $107,000; the department recommended spending the remaining roughly $78,000 to repair the unit rather than take the truck as a total loss and replace it for an estimated $1 million or more. The board approved the repair at a prior meeting and the chief said the truck should return by mid'March.
"We finally settled yesterday morning with the insurance company," the chief said. "So the deal is so the generator caught fire... the insurance company wrote a check for roughly $107,000... the town had to have a choice whether the truck was going to be totaled out and they'd have to go out and we'd have to buy a brand new rescue truck probably for right around a million dollars or pay the difference to get the tools and the rest of the generator fixed which is roughly $78,000."
Separately, staff described several building system failures during a recent cold snap: a galvanized sprinkler pipe in the attic corroded and required replacement of a roughly 20'foot run, the garage radiant'floor heat system (heat exchanger and circulator) failed and was being temporarily corrected for about $18,000, and the makeup air unit appears to need full replacement at an estimated cost of about $70,000 with a 10' to 14'week lead time for a new unit. Staff said the building management system is not working, a boiler and a heat pump are down, and recent gas bills ran near $15,000.
Officials said these failures increase near'term operating costs and create pressure to seek capital funding. The board voted to go into executive session for an update on the storage and training facility; no action was expected following that session.
