Albion Joint Fire District seeking bids for new ladder truck, expected to top $2 million
Photos by Tom Rivers: Fire trucks for the Albion Joint Fire District head down Main Street in the June 14 Albion Strawberry Festival parade. The fire district is working towards a new quint ladder truck that would replace the ladder truck in front from 1994 and the fire engine behind it from 1991. The new quint ladder truck could pump water and carry water to fire scenes. Albion’s current ladder truck doesn’t have the ability to carry or pump water.
ALBION – The Albion Joint Fire District is seeking proposals for a new ladder truck. It will replace one that is currently 31 years old.
The new truck, however, is expected to take as long as four years to be built and delivered due to a backlog among the fire truck manufacturers. The new fire truck also is expected to cost about $2.2 million.
Al Cheverie, the fire district chairman, said the costs for new apparatus have escalated in recent years. The Village of Medina, for example, agreed to pay $1,698,995 to Pierce Manufacturing 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 will put a notice to bidders in The Daily News of Batavia, the district’s legal newspaper. That is expected to be posted next week, with the bids due 12 days after that. If the legal notice can be posted on Tuesday, Cheverie said the bids will be due on July 27. Cheverie said the fire district commissioners should be able to accept a bid at their Aug. 14 meeting.
The bid specifications for the truck will be available to bidders through secretary Rachel Hicks once the legal notice is posted.
The fire district is seeking a quint ladder truck with a 100-foot-long ladder. The quint also has the ability to pump water and carry 300 gallons on the truck. The current ladder truck doesn’t pump or carry water, and has a 103-foot-long ladder.
“This will have everything we need for the initial attack,” Cheverie said about the new quint ladder truck.
Cheverie said the new truck will allow the fire district to take two older trucks out of service – a 1994 ladder truck and a fire engine from 1991.
The new truck will fit in the existing fire hall. Cheverie said the new truck will actually be a little bit smaller because the ladder is in four sections instead of three.
The fire district budget for 2025 established an “Apparatus Repair & Replacement Reserve” and a $250,000 was put in the reserve fund the first year.
The two older trucks have held up well for the Albion Fire Department but Cheverie said they will need extra care to make it four more years.
“We will have to band-aid them as best we can to keep them in service,” he said.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to state the truck will have a 100-foot ladder, not 110 feet as originally stated, and will have capacity to carry 300 gallons of water, not the 500 to 800 as originally stated.
Fire commissioner Kevin Sheehan, left, makes a point during the Albion Joint Fire District meeting today in the Albion fire hall. Listening from left include Chairman Al Cheverie, Commissioner Dave Buczek and Treasurer Victoria Tabor. Other commissioners, not pictured, include Chris Kinter and Craig Lane.
