LBFD wants $1.7M truck, which concerns City Council

The Long Beach Fire Department wants to buy a new ladder truck for $1.7 million to replace an aging vehicle that was badly damaged in Hurricane Sandy in 2012. But some City Council members are expressing alarmed about the price at a time when the city is $500 million in debt.

Joseph Miller, who became commissioner of the Fire Department in December and is a veteran firefighter, delivered a lengthy presentation about the need for a new truck at a city council work session Jan. 26.

Miller explained that Long Beach is considered a “high-hazard area” by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit that focuses on equipment safety. He pointed out that the city has 61 high-rise buildings as well as schools, nursing homes and hotels. He also noted that the city is on a barrier island, and needs to be “self-sufficient in case a bridge fails.”

Additionally, Miller said, new high-rises are being built, including two nine-story condominium buildings and a 10-story apartment building on the six-acre Superblock between Riverside and Long Beach boulevards.

In May 2021, Miller said, the senior mechanic in Long Beach’s garage told a committee formed to study the truck issue that the city “should start looking to purchase a new ladder truck sooner rather than later, because the damages in need of repair were increasing, as was the overall cost to keep the ladder truck in service.”

For a department presentation last September, the Firematic Supply Company, which has facilities in Yaphank, designs, manufactures, sells and services firefighting equipment and works with Pierce Manufacturing, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of fire trucks, brought a demonstration truck to Long Beach for the truck committee to see.

The vehicle was driven “up and down tight streets throughout the city so members could see how it performed,” Miller said, quoting from a department overview of the presentation. “Members were able to see all the various controls, compartments, and cab space to decide what worked/did not work for the City of Long Beach.”

The department ultimately decided to recommend buying a truck from Pierce — a model called the Ascendant, with a Velocity cab, Miller said.

According to Miller’s presentation, the choice was made because the current vehicle has outlived its useful life, which was shortened by the damage from Sandy, and has been out of service for two of the past five years while awaiting parts and repairs, for which the city can expect to pay more in months to come.

Pierce “offered the fastest and best quality turnaround time” the department overview stated. The company owns Oshkosh Defense, a Wisconsin company that builds truck bodies and has access to material before other manufacturers. The overview added that Pierce offers better warranties, has three service centers on Long Island, and its trucks fit the city’s streets.

The truck committee said it was able to secure competitive pricing, including a sale price of $200,000 to $250,000 for the existing truck.

In a statement that seemed to alarm some council members, the truck committee said that the new ladder truck’s price would increase by 15 percent, or over $100,000, if an agreement were not reached by Jan. 31.

New council member Roy Lester said that the department’s specifications for a new truck, which he had just received, appeared particularly close to a truck and parts made by Pierce.

“The specs are very, very specific,” Lester said. “Firematics helped you draw up these specs?”

Firematic represents Pierce. The new truck would be purchased through a contract with the Houston-Galveston Area Council, a buying cooperative. Long Beach city officials and fire equipment consultants explained that the buying cooperative does the bidding on behalf of the municipality, saving it the trouble of price-shopping.

Councilmember John Bendo asked whether any other manufacturers had been considered. Miller said they had been, but Pierce was the best fit for the city.

Council President Karen McInnis said she was in favor of purchasing a new truck, but added that there were a number of questions to be answered, including price.

“We have to be sure that all of the procedures have been followed to make sure this is the best fit,” McInnis said. “We’re in debt. Everybody is watching us. We’ve got to make sure this is right.”