The request was brought to council at its virtual meeting Monday evening by Raymond, the town’s director of protective services after the town’s ladder truck broke down during an assistance call from the Elliot fire department in late June.
According to Raymond, the ladder truck is part of the Mutual Aid Agreement between neighbouring fire departments to share equipment and manpower in emergency situations.
A call about a house fire in Elliot Lake on Mississauga Avenue came in around 8:28 a.m. on June 23 and the truck was dispatched to assist.
“Captain Bruce Brisbois was dispatched at 8:29 a.m. to respond with our ladder truck,” Raymond said in his request to council. “At 8:45, I received a phone call from Brisbois stating that the ladder truck engine had stopped in Algoma Mills.
"Elliot Lake was advised that we would unfortunately not be able to respond to their call.
"The truck was towed to the public works garage for review by the mechanic. It seems that the engine had seized up, the motor will not turn over.
"With the truck being 32 years old, trying to rebuild an engine is not an option since we would find it difficult to find any parts for such an old vehicle."
“We are now down to one 19-year-old pumper and a 29-year-old tanker as our only response vehicles available,” Raymond said. “Since we are down to one pumper truck, I have to remove Blind River from the Mutual Aid system, we cannot respond to our neighbouring municipality’s since we would not have a pumper to respond in Blind River if we had a call here.”
The chief is recommending to council that it authorize the purchase of MaxiMetal PIC pumper truck to be purchased with a down payment of $405,000 some of which would be coming from the town’s Capital Fire Truck Reserve.
He is also recommending the balance be funded from the Future Projects Reserve and that funds be repaid to the Future Projects Reserve over 10 years at zero per cent interest and that council authorize pre-budget approval for 2022 for the replacement of the 19-year-old pumper truck at a price of $800,000 which could go to tender this year based on the turnaround time for emergency vehicles.
He also requested council authorize a five-year capital reserve allocation for fleet replacement of no less than $250,000 per year into the fire truck reserve commencing in 2023 as part of the Asset Management Plan.
The used tanker truck would be sold, once the new vehicle arrives with money received from resale to go to the Fire Truck Reserves.
After some discussion by council members, the recommendations were approved including the decision to set aside $250,000 each year for vehicle replacement.