Town, village to discuss pumper replacement

The time at which Belgium Fire Chief Pat Wester was asked by the village and town of Belgium to hold a meeting about a major purchase has come.

After delaying discussions on replacing one of the department’s fire engines, officials agreed at last fall’s fire department budget meeting to get together before spring.

A meeting at the fire station to include members of the town and village boards will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26.

The department’s engine 762, a pumper, celebrates its 30th birthday this year, and Wester provided evidence that the fleet is making its way over the hill.

The front suction of engine 763, a pumper built in 2001, is starting to rust from the inside and will soon need to be replaced, he said in a Feb. 7 document to the village and town boards.

That would require custom pipe work since it’s a Quantum engine, a model that Pierce Manufacturing, a fire truck builder in Appleton, doesn’t make anymore. Wester estimated the cost to be $80,000.

For engine 762, the department looked into refurbishment, which would cost about $500,000 “and we’d still have a 30-plus-year-old apparatus,” Wester wrote, adding that the process doesn’t include engine work or chassis maintenance.

The department got two bids on replacing the pumper.

Reliant Fire Apparatus, a Slinger-based company that represents Pierce Manufacturing in southeast Wisconsin, provided a base unit price of $952,000, which includes a payment of nearly $813,000 at the time of order. That total is up from $948,000 in August, Wester wrote, and he was told Pierce will have another price increase this May.

Fire Service Inc. based in St. John, Ind., gave a quote of nearly $879,000.

The time of delivery can range from 18 months to four years, Wester wrote. On the high end, engine 762 would be 35 years old before its replacement would arrive if it is ordered this year.

If an engine purchase is approved now, Wester wrote, the department is open to cutting its engines from three to two when one fails and is too expensive to fix.

“For now, we’d like to keep them in service as they really hold little, if any, value for sale on the market,” Wester wrote.

The community, he said, has “stepped up” for big purchases. In 1994, a new house was built and raffled off, raising all but $30,000 to pay for engine 762.

At last fall’s department budget meeting, Supr. Bill Janeshek said the Town of Belgium’s budget is only allowed to increase by about 1.9% per year, which doesn’t provide enough money to help pay for such an apparatus. Village Treasurer Vickie Boehnlein said the village would need time to save money for the purchase.