Quint fire truck purchase to be determined at Longmeadow Special Town Meeting

Date: 11/13/2014

LONGMEADOW – At the Nov. 18 Special Town Meeting, a town-wide vote will determine whether the town would purchase a Quint fire truck with a ladder apparatus to replace the existing Engine 3, which is more than 25 years old.

A Quint fire truck is an apparatus that serves dual purposes as an engine and a ladder truck, Fire Chief Eric Madison stated in a proposal. A Quint refers to the five functions that the truck provide, including a pump, water tank, fire hose, aerial device, and ground ladders.

Select Board member Marie Angelides said she is the citizen’s petition sponsor for Article 18, which deals with the purchase of a Quint fire truck.

“Unfortunately, the ladder truck is more expensive than a regular truck,” she said. “Instead of $500,000, it's going to cost us $752,000."

Madison noted that a Quint truck is less expensive than purchasing an engine and a ladder truck and one truck is cheaper to maintain and operate.

Article 18 states that funding for the Quint would come from the fire truck fund, which consists of money that has been appropriated at town meetings during the last several years, free cash, and $90,000 in donations from Bay Path University, Jewish Geriatric Services, and Glenmeadow Retirement Community.

“Every year, [funds for the Quint Truck] has been put aside during the capital planning process,” Angelides said.

Town Manager Stephen Crane also approached the nonprofit organizations in town for donations because buildings such as Bay Path University would need a ladder truck in order to fight a potential fire in a large multi-storied building.

Crane said he believes that a Quint fire truck is a top priority for the town and a matter of ensuring public safety.

However, he said when he was first appointed town manager he was initially skeptical about purchasing a Quint fire apparatus over a regular fire engine.

Crane stated that he observed a ladder truck in action during a home fire at 322 Frank Smith Road on April 17, 2013.

The Fire Department requested assistance from East Longmeadow to utilize its ladder truck, which arrived after 20 minutes, he explained.

Crane said the ladder extended from the sidewalk and pumped water directly in the roof where the fire was and extinguished the fire from above.

Ultimately, the house was deemed as a total loss, he added. However, the building has been reconstructed and is now inhabited once again.

“We're not replacing a fleet [of fire trucks]," he added. “We have to replace the old fire truck no matter what and we also have to decide whether to spend the extra money on a Quint.”

In the spring, the Select Board decided that they would not move forward with the purchase of a Quint truck, Angelides said. At that time, a citizen’s petition article by resident Eleanor Cress was put before the board.

However, the board found that Cress’ citizen’s petitioned article was not submitted in a timely manner and was not added to the warrant of the 2014 Annual Town Meeting, she added.

“I went and spoke to Ms. Cress and thanked her for her efforts and I understood her concerns,” Angelides said. “And I told her that I would promise to make sure it was on the fall town warrant. So, the best way to do that [was] to just do a citizen’s petition myself. So, I did that out of respect for the work that Ms. Cress had done in the spring.”

Angelides said in order to fight a fire on a roof you need to have a firefighter on a roof.

“It’s much safer for [a firefighter] to be able to have a hose on the ladder to be able to shoot water on the top [of the fire],” she added. “We did have an injury of a firefighter, many years ago, who was on a roof and the roof collapsed. So, there is safety issue not only for our residents but also for our firefighters.”