FLINT, MI—A $988,000 Michigan-made platform firetruck will help Flint’s fire department safely rescue people from large commercial buildings and lower insurance rates for residents.
The 104-foot ladder firetruck was purchased last year using funding from the city’s fleet department, Fire Chief Raymond Barton said at a Monday press conference.
“Our platform truck was so old it was taken out of service and when the emergency managers came in they sold the old flat platform truck for scrap,” Barton said. “When we would have a large commercial fire, we would have to request mutual aid and get a platform truck from Davison, Clio and Mundy Township, whoever had a platform available.”
New firetruck’s features
One of the platform truck’s most important features, Barton said, is its ability to rescue people from tall buildings more safely. Before residents being rescued would have to climb down the 70-foot ladder of the city’s firetrucks.
“It will also give us a better ISO (Insurance Service Office) rating and lower insurance costs for residents,” Barton said.
Having a Michigan-made firetruck reduces service time, Barton said. The Wyoming-based company will service the truck for three years.
“Sometimes when we get trucks out of state it would take up to seven months for that truck to be serviced,” Barton said.
The money used for purchasing the firetruck couldn’t be used to retain the 33 firefighters at risk of being laid off because of federal grant funding running out at the end of June, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said.
“Like the chief said: this was money from last year’s budget and it doesn’t even come out of the fire department’s budget,” Weaver said.
City Council: To retain or not retain 33 firefighters
Weaver, Barton, City Council President Herb Winfrey and Vice President Monica Galloway met to discuss plans to provide $966,000 in funding to the fire department before Monday's finance committee meeting.
The funding would retain 15 firefighters and allow the department to operate a four-person fire truck, the amount federally required to have a firefighter enter a burning building.
Six layoff notices for June 30 were sent to firefighters last week, Barton said. Those notices may be rescinded depending on whether the City Council amends its current budget, which will add $1.7 million to the fire department’s budget and retain all 33 firefighters, at its Monday Special Affairs meeting.
Weaver vetoed City Council’s amended budget on June 10.
“I’m always concerned about the budget,” Weaver said. “When I got here we still had emergency management oversight. We worked hard to get things in place financially so we could get rid of them. I’m going to continually be fiscally responsible with the power that I have.”
———
©2019 The Flint Journal, Mich.
Visit The Flint Journal, Mich. at www.mlive.com/flintjournal
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
