Kokomo IN Fire Department Puts Apparatus Up for Sale Firefighters

The Kokomo Board of Public Works and Safety this week approved a measure allowing the city to sell “several salvaged vehicles,” including squad cards, trash trucks, buses and more.

The vehicles, “no longer needed for use in the city’s operations,” will be disposed of through public bid, according to a resolution approved by board members.

Bids will likely be opened at the board’s April 24 meeting.

Included in the salvage inventory list are nine squad cars, four buses, two street sweepers, eight trash trucks and various other entries, like a single dump truck. Twenty-seven vehicles in total are on the list.

The vehicles are available for inspection from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Kokomo Central Garage, 919 Millbrook Lane.

"Please note these vehicles are salvaged and may be missing parts," reads a notice of sale.

Meanwhile, the Kokomo Common Council during its March 25 meeting unanimously approved a resolution allowing the Kokomo Fire Department to sell a 1996 102-foot platform fire truck.

The truck, said councilman Steve Whikehart, is non-operational and has been out of service for emergency use for roughly two years.

It is the first fire truck sold in nearly 20 years; in the last 11 years, four fire vehicles have been added to the KFD fleet, he noted.

Whikehart explained that the KFD used an Internet auction site to sell the fire truck for $25,000 to a business in Yuma, Arizona.

The company, DopplerTech Inc., works with the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA “to support their missions,” said Whikehart.

DopplerTech’s website says it provides advanced radar operations, maintenance, fixed/tracking optics operations, mission site geodetic survey and data analysis. It also provides “a total solution” for things like mission planning, mission support, radar and optical support, and final mission reporting.

The company intends to use the ladder on the fire truck to help with target practice, explained Whikehart.

Added Common Council President Bob Hayes: “It’s pretty straightforward. City will make a little money out of it and somebody will be able to shoot better, I guess.”

The sale of the defunct platform fire truck follows a similar, notable purchase made in 2018.

Last summer, city officials announced the $1,008,700 purchase of an aerial platform truck, complete with a 110-foot ladder reach, cameras that eliminate blind spots and a bucket capable of holding three firefighters, to be housed downtown at KFD Station 1.

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