Jan. 26--WENATCHEE -- When a warehouse fire exploded and threatened surrounding businesses near Chelan last October, fire officials asked Wenatchee to send a ladder truck and crew.
But the Wenatchee Fire Department couldn't help. Its ladder trucks were both out of service.
With one or more of its aging fire trucks down for repairs at any given time, the department has been barely equipped to cover its own fire emergencies, let alone helping out its neighboring fire departments.
"It hasn't happened yet that we've been totally out of service because of the trucks, but we've been close," said Fire Chief Stan Smoke. "Thankfully, we have really good relationships with our neighboring agencies to cover us."
The city has not had a major fire that it could not respond to quickly because of truck problems, Smoke said. But it has, at times, had to rely on Douglas and Chelan counties to provide the primary engines for fires and to man Wenatchee fire stations when the city's main rigs were on emergency calls and its reserve trucks were down for repairs.
The fire department is not alone among city departments in nursing along aging vehicles. Most departments have pushed their well-used rigs years beyond their scheduled replacement. The Police Department has five cruisers that had been scheduled to be replaced in the last few years and four more that were to be retired this year -- but the purchase of new ones has been pushed off five or more years for all of them.
Most of the city's snowplows and sanders are years past their replacement times, and one city utility truck initially scheduled to be in service until 1995 is now slated for replacement in 2018.
"Whenever we buy a new vehicles, we give it a replacement date," said Dan Frazier, director of public works operations for the city. "Back in 2008, when the economy tanked ... we started pushing back those dates and using that money for other things. We've been doing that for three budget cycles now."
The most expensive vehicles the city owns are its fire trucks.
The city's primary aerial/ladder truck should be replaced and moved into a back-up role. But a new one could cost $800,000 or more and the city doesn't have the money. A new engine can cost $500,000, pumpers $450,000 and brush trucks $80,000.
The city's primary fire rigs are a 10-year-old engine at the Chelan Street station and a 15-year-old ladder truck at the Maple Street station. They are backed by a half dozen trucks that date back to 1984, and one 1968-era truck has been awaiting repair for about four years.
Smoke said the primary aerial ladder truck was out of service for several weeks altogether last year and Chelan County Fire District 1 Sunnyslope's ladder truck covered for it. The aerial truck is used in residential and commercial structure fires.
One city pumper truck is being hauled off to Spokane this week to have its pumper repaired and will be out of commission for a couple of weeks. The back-up pumper is a 1994 body on a 1975 engine that Smoke said he is "reluctant" to use as a first-out rig, "but at times like this we don't have a choice."
Firefighters have been trained to troubleshoot problems while on runs. Engines have been known to break down on the way to emergencies, but none have resulted in delayed response to a fire, Smoke said.
The problems with the aging trucks run the gamut: Faulty brakes, leaky transmissions, bad suspension, stuck valves, engine problems, no air conditioning or heating, broken doors, stuck windows.
Asked how often a fire truck comes into the city shop for repair, Frazier quickly answered "Pretty much every day."
Much of the work is done in the city shop, but it doesn't have a lift to get the big trucks into the air. So they are sent to Seattle or Spokane for major repairs.
Smoke said he puts together a work plan for his department each year, and his top goal in recent years has been to manage the repairs and scheduled maintenance of the trucks while still providing adequate fire service to the city.
"We have a liaison that works closely with the city shop to keep these old apparatus running and repaired," he said.
Wenatchee Fire Capt. Kelly Lindemann, president of Wenatchee Firefighters Local 453, said when the city's primary fire engines are out on calls, the department often does not have enough vehicles to cover its two stations in case another emergency arises. In those cases, Douglas County Fire District 2 and Chelan County Fire District 1 are asked to cover for them. Sometimes, they have to send trucks to park in the Wenatchee stations.
"We can't maintain adequate protection on our own at times," he said. "We have to rely on (other agencies)."
He said the department has had as many as three fire trucks down at the same time.
"The city, in general, is kind of crumbling because of financial problems," he said. "But at some point you just have to start putting money back into infrastructure and equipment."
Smoke said that the city won't address replacing fire trucks until after a decision is made on whether to pursue the creation of a Regional Fire Authority with Chelan County Fire District 1. The RFA would combine the Wenatchee area's departments' rigs under one organization.
Smoke said he felt bad that his department couldn't help when Chelan asked for it last fall. Chelan County District 1 was able to send one, though, and fire crews were able to keep the blaze from spreading to an adjacent warehouse and surrounding outbuildings.
Smoke said he called Chelan's fire chief a few days later to apologize.
"It was unfortunate," Smoke said. "With the aging state of our apparatus and the frequent need for maintenance and repairs, it happens. We just have to work very closely with our city repair crew to keep our engines operating, and to work closely with the surrounding agencies when our resources are thin."
Michelle McNiel: 664-7152
Copyright 2012 - The Wenatchee World, Wash.
