Antiques make good furniture, but antique fire trucks aren't good to have in service.
A vehicle is considered an antique when it's at least 30 years old, Lancaster County Administrator Steve Willis said. Lancaster County has two fire tanker trucks, two pumpers and a service truck that date as far back as the early 1970s.
That had Lancaster County Fire Service officials talking to County Council on Monday night about the possibility of a $5.4 million bond to buy eight new fire engines, eight rescue trucks and two tankers for various county fire departments, plus $445,200 to buy 140 air-tank units and spare air cylinders for firefighters.
Kershaw and the city of Lancaster would each receive $184,963, the cost of a rescue truck, to enhance firefighting capabilities of their departments.
"It's expensive, but we've let the infrastructure go," said Lancaster County Emergency Management Director Morris Russell.
Old trucks
Some of the fire trucks in service now are unsafe and have braking issues, Russell said.
The McDonald Green Volunteer Fire Department tanker, for example, lacks power steering and a firefighter could break an arm if it got caught in the steering wheel.
Three of the rescue trucks, which carry the fire department's equipment to scenes, on the replacement list are surplus ambulances from the 1990s. While Russell said he appreciated receiving these from Lancaster County EMS, the ambulances were worn by the time the fire service got them.
The newest truck on the replacement list is Buford Fire Department's rescue truck, one of the surplus ambulances.
The oldest fire vehicle in service right now is the Flat Creek Volunteer Fire Department's 1970, 2,000-gallon tanker, which had been converted from on old fuel truck. McDonald Green and Tradesville have 1972 engines. Heath Springs' rescue truck is a 1984 converted cracker-delivery van.
Some of the old engines have their water pumps on the front of the trucks. This was in the days before fire hydrants, and the trucks were driven right up to the edge of a pond to draw water, Willis said.
"Yeah, it's bad," Willis said.
Each fire department will get one new vehicle with the proposal in an effort to rid the fleet of trucks more than 30 years old. But some of the trucks from the 1980s and '90s will be moved to other departments, Willis said. For example, Flat Creek will receive a new tanker, and will receive Rich Hill's 1987 engine.
"We'll have made a good start" replacing fire trucks through the proposal, Willis said.
Council discusses proposal
Fire officials have been working on the proposal for about a year.
Council Chairman Rudy Carter, a former volunteer firefighter, commended the county's firefighters, many of whom attended Monday's council meeting.
"You guys, you ladies, thank you for what you do," he said.
Carter asked if the new fire equipment would lower insurance rates for homeowners. He said when Elgin Volunteer Fire Department's insurance rating went down, homeowners in a 3-mile rating around the station saved $250,000 on their insurance premiums.
Councilman Jack Estridge said he saved $262 when the Flat Creek department got its last new engine.
Russell said he couldn't promise lower insurance rates if council approved buying the new vehicles.
"Will it help them keep what they got? Absolutely," he said.
Looking over the report, Councilman Fred Thomas said it appears Districts 2 and 4 would receive less money in the proposal. Russell said that's because Districts 2 and 4 are mostly in the city of Lancaster, which has a paid fire department and receives different funding.
"The city of Lancaster has come out like a bandit in getting equipment," Russell said. The city has a better hazardous materials setup, for example, than the city of Columbia's fire department, he said.
But city residents already pay city and county taxes, Thomas said, and it seemed to him that the city would be subsidizing the rest of the county's fire equipment.
Thomas also questioned if other county departments would come forward with long-term needs and bond proposals.
"There is no question that this is needed, wanted and probably deserved," Thomas said. "But there are other needs."
A combined bond?
If council approves the fire-equipment bond, it would add $12 to the tax bill of a $100,000 home, county Finance Director Veronica Thompson said.
Pierce, considered the "Cadillac" of fire trucks, came in with the low bid of about $4.6 million for the new vehicles. The vehicles are custom-designed for the needs of each department.
Taxes on the new vehicles would cost $5,400.
Council members asked how the bond would affect the county's borrowing power for other needs, such as a new courthouse, which Willis said would definitely need to go before voters in a bond referendum.
"There's no way we can squeeze that courthouse in for $8 million," he said.
Councilman Bryan Vaughn suggested that the courthouse and fire purchase be rolled into one bond package to be decided by voters.
"I think this council needs to sit back and catch its breath before it obligates itself to another $5 million," Councilman Wesley Grier said. "We need to sit down and look at a long-term plan."
Russell said the bids on the equipment are time sensitive, and officials will have to start the bond process over if a decision is delayed.
Councilman Larry Honeycutt said it would be an injustice to the county and residents to wait.
"We've got equipment that's worn out and we're going to put it on the back burner again," he said.
Council will vote on accepting the bid from Pierce at its Sept. 24 meeting.
Replacement list
Here are the fire vehicles that the Lancaster County Fire Service has requested to be replaced in a $5.4 million bond proposal:
--- Antioch's 1985 rescue truck
--- Bell Town's 1986 rescue truck
--- Buford's 1995 rescue truck, a surplus ambulance
--- Camp Creek's 1993 rescue truck, a surplus ambulance
--- Charlotte Road/Van Wyck's 1987 engine
--- Elgin's 1993 engine
--- Flat Creek's 1970 tanker
--- Gooch's 1981 engine
--- Heath Springs' 1984 rescue truck
--- Indian Land's 1987 engine
--- Kershaw's rescue truck
--- McDonald Green's 1972 tanker
--- Pleasant Hill's 1992 rescue truck, a surplus ambulance
--- Pleasant Valley's 1993 engine
--- Rich Hill's 1987 engine
--- Riverside's 1991 rescue truck
--- Shiloh Zion's 1976 rescue truck
--- Tradesville's 1972 engine
--- Unity's 1993 engine
Lancaster Fire Department will receive $184,963, the cost of a service truck, to increase fire protection.
Republished with permission from The Lancaster News
