Fire District accepts $2.5 million bid for new ladder truck in Albion
Photos by Tom Rivers: The current Albion ladder truck is shown inside the fire hall on Platt Street on Thursday evening. This truck is from 1994 and will need to last another four years.
ALBION – The Albion Joint Fire District voted Thursday to buy a new ladder truck at a cost of $2,480,698 from Pierce Manufacturing.
The new truck won’t be ready for about four years due to a significant back order.
Albion’s new truck will be a quint with a dual purpose. Not only will it have a 100-foot-long ladder, but the truck will carry 300 gallons of water and also will function like a fire engine with the ability to pump water.
The current ladder truck from 1994 doesn’t pump or carry water, and has a 103-foot-long ladder.
Pierce was the only fire truck manufacturer to submit a bid. Two others picked up bid packets – Bulldog Fire Apparatus and Empire Fire Emergency – but they didn’t submit a bid for the new truck.
Al Cheverie, chairman of the Albion Joint Fire District, said he has full confidence in Pierce building a very reliable fire truck for Albion that will be in use for many years.
By the time the truck arrives in 2029, the fire district expects it will have half of the cost already set aside in a reserve fund with the rest to be financed unless the district can secure a grant to help cover some of the costs.
The fire district, as part of its 2025 budget, created a reserve fund that has $250,000 towards fire apparatus. If that continues each year at that level, the district should have $1,250,000 set aside towards the truck in 2029.
Cheverie said the costs of fire apparatus has steadily risen in recent years. The Village of Medina, for example, agreed to pay $1,698,995 to Pierce in Appleton, Wisc. for a new fire truck with a 100-foot-long ladder. That was June 26, 2023. Medina’s truck is expected this December, about a 2 ½ year wait.
The fire district needs to wait 30 days as part of a permissive referendum process. If enough people signa petition in the fire district, which includes the towns of Albion and Gaines, there would be a public vote on whether the district can purchase the new truck.
Albion Joint Fire District officials discuss issues on Thursday evening during the district’s monthly meeting. From left include commissioners Kevin Sheehan, Craig Lane, Chairman Al Cheverie and Dave Buczek, as well as Treasurer Victoria Tabor and Assistant Fire Chief Steven Papponetti.
District commissioners agreed to not hold Pierce to a solid date for the truck delivery given the uncertainties with supply-chain issues.
“It’s unrealistic to lock them down on a certain date with the market being what it is with supply and materials,” said David Buczek, one of the commissioners.
Holding Pierce to precise date and assessing fines for going past that could prompt the company to walk away from the project, Buczek said.
Craig Lane, the Orleans County DPW superintendent, also is a fire commissioner. In his job with the county, he said contractors and suppliers have some leeway for final delivery of their product.
Pierce is working on a custom-built fire truck and there could be factors outside their control that potential delay the shipment of the apparatus, Lane said.
