MI Firefighters' 'Emergency' Equipment Purchase OK'd

Nov. 20, 2019
The Hillsdale Fire Department will be able to replace its breathing air fill station compressor system, which unexpectedly broke down after a fire call last week.

HILLSDALE, MI—Hillsdale City Council on Monday authorized the replacement of a critical piece of equipment utilized by Hillsdale City Fire Department, after the machine broke following a fire call last week.

Council granted Scott Hephner, Hillsdale's police and fire chief, permission to purchase a new breathing air fill station compressor system, after the department's current machine failed unexpectedly.

"Our compressor system is down, and we can't fill our SCBA bottles," he told Council members, after an emergency item was added to Monday's meeting agenda under new business so he could brief them on the problem.

The compressor system, which is a detached part of the breathing air fill station, is used to fill large, wall-mounted high pressure storage cylinders at the station, which in turn are used to fill smaller, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) cylinders worn by firefighters.

The age of the machine has caused problems before. The breathing air fill station is 20-plus years old, and has broken down several times prior to its latest failure. The department has been servicing the unit rather than replacing it for many years because they didn't have the funds to purchase another one until recently.

But now, they aren't able to "band-aid" the issue any longer, Hephner said, explaining that the machine's age means parts aren't readily available.

"About two months ago, it broke down and we had the company come out and, in their words, they did a 'band-aid' on it because they didn't even know if they could find the parts necessary for what needed to be fixed on it," he said. "They got it up and going again; it broke down again at the end of last week after we assisted Jonesville with a structure fire."

"They were there again today to inspect it and see if they could get it working again and they told us, 'sorry, we can't band-aid the band-aid.'"

The replacement compressor system comes with an approximate price tag of $21,719, and a 6-10 week timetable for delivery and installation. Hephner said that's why brought his request to Council as soon as possible.

"It takes 6-10 weeks, that's why we requested it as an emergency today," he said.

The city budgeted $55,000 for a full unit replacement in its 10-year public safety capital improvement plan, unveiled before last year's public safety millage campaign.

Although the replacement wasn't scheduled to take place until June 2020, the replacement of the compressor system alone won't create any additional financial strain, since the next major purchase, another fire engine, is still several years out.

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©2019 Hillsdale Daily News, Mich.

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