Apparatus Repairs Taxing IA Fire Department's Budget

The big ticket item that has surfaced this year was an issue with the ladder truck. Newton Fire Chief Jarrod Wellik said the truck originally was purchased for $675,000 in 2001 and repairs so far have totaled roughly $32,000.

“What we are spending on the ladder truck just to repair the issues found during the annual testing is actually in excess of what my annual maintenance budget is,” Wellik said.

The ladder truck had a damaged rung which rendered it unusable because firefighters could not safely climb the ladder. This caused problems for Newton firefighters responding to a structure fire earlier this month.

“The (Days Inn) fire was a fire where we needed an elevated stream, access to roofs. We couldn’t use our ladder for people. We could use it for water but not for people,” Wellik said.

The department's utility vehicle also needed repairs to its transmission and clutch, adding to the list of maintenance issues. A new $175,000 ambulance was also recently purchased.

“We took delivery actually in June, and we have been working on getting stuff transferred over ... It’ll be our transfer unit,” Wellik said.

The new ambulance was purchased because another ambulance in the fleet was in need of repairs. The NFD has their ambulances on a rotation schedule.

“Every three years, we get a new ambulance,” Wellik said.

With getting a new ambulance, Wellik said they plan on keeping the ambulance that is being replaced so there is a reserve vehicle at the department.

“Basically what that is for is when we have a unit that had the injector go down, we can put that unit in service and still function with three ambulances,” Wellik said.

While it may seem like this is a considerable amount of money, the cost of repairing vehicles, especially specialty vehicles is often substantial due to their unique nature.

“You know, sometimes you just get a black cloud over you that you know the rain just won’t quit and that’s kind of what’s happened,” Wellik said.

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