Fire chief says bid mileage errors and engine reliability justify heavy-duty vehicle specs

Fire Chief Doug Williams said commissioners should not approve a lower-cost vehicle option after staff discovered bid-board mileage errors and mechanics reported repeated failures on a commonly used engine.

"The actual mileage on those 2 vehicles are not a 112,000. It's a 137,851. And the other one is ... 149,972," Williams said, adding that the bid-board pull used over-a-year-old data. He said both vehicles were included in the department's five-year replacement forecast and that replacing them this year is consistent with that plan.

Williams also relayed mechanics' concerns about a camshaft and lifter problem on a problematic engine type. "Our mechanics' concern with that engine is a very valid concern... I don't think we wanna save $872 on a vehicle and have a $10,000 engine change in a few years," he said, summarizing shop experience and repair-cost estimates.

Williams described operational reasons for choosing crew-cab, heavier-frame trucks: investigators and inspectors often transport multiple people, equipment and trailers across Sedgwick County's large geography and may need to assume command at incident scenes. The training-officer vehicle was listed with about 208,000 miles in the bid materials.

Commissioners paused formal action and agreed to bring the vehicle bid back to the Wednesday commission meeting for a fuller briefing with staff and acquisition questions answered by Joe Thomas and the chief.