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Escambia Purchasing $2.9 Million In Breathing Equipment For Fire Department
August 3, 2019
Escambia County is spending $2.9 million to replace expired breathing equipment for Escambia Fire Rescue.
The Escambia County Commission approved the $2,905,922.45 purchase from Ten-8 Fire Equipment, Inc. The county will receive a $25,000 trade-in credit, leaving the total cost at $2,880,922.45.
Escambia County will purchase 320 new self-contained breathing apparatus devices, or SCBAs,s and about 1,000 45-minute air cylinders — enough for every fire station across the county.
It was estimated that it would cost upwards of a half million dollars to repair and recertify the existing equipment.
Ten-8 was the only one of four companies submitting a bid meeting the requested specifications. Two firms were non-responsive, in that they offered a make and model of self-contained breathing apparatus that was not acceptable, while a third firm submitted a “no bid” response.
NorthEscambia.com photos.
Comments
8 Responses to “Escambia Purchasing $2.9 Million In Breathing Equipment For Fire Department”
I under stand our fire dept needs to stay updated, dut the tax payer is paying $125.33 tin fire tax were is the money going. the BOCC is going to take it from LOST (local options sales tax) this is so wrong by our poor leader ship..
I’m not a firefighter, but if I was I’m pretty sure I would be taking very good care of the very equipment that my own life may depend on, and not just the person I am running into a burning building to save. Now weather they got a good price for the equipment I don’t know. If you just figured the cost of purchasing a thousand air tanks the price comes out at $2,800 a piece, and and that’s not even considering the 320 self contained breathing apparatus. And the last thing I might add is this isn’t just to kind of equipment you go down and purchase at Walmart.
Why didn’t they spend the halfmillion..as opposed to the 2.9 million? same outcome.
This is what happens when a department is forced to operate with an underfunded budget.. life safety equipment gets pushed back further and further until it is past overdue. A properly funded department wouldn’t have had to come to the commission to ask for money to purchase necessary equipment… yet over and over and over again Fire Rescue is being forced to come to the commissioners and beg for purchases that they cant afford in a budget year due to their failures on funding our emergency responders.
@Oversight. Your response shows your total ignorance on this subject. Breathing apparatus is the most critical piece of equipment on a fire engine. Firefighters and the public’s lives literally depend on properly functioning breathing apparatus. Because of the critical nature of this equipment, OSHA is continuously up-grading and changing the standards, and these that are being purchased now may very well be outlawed by OSHA in just a few years. It is also critical to replace the whole inventory at one time so that at an emergency, a firefighter can get a breathing apparatus from another engine and be familiar with it’s operation. It’s also critical for air tanks to be interchangeable, which isn’t the case with different makes and vintages of apparatus. You also implied that the fire dept. isn’t taking care of their equipment. I challenge you to stop by any fire station anywhere and find any equipment that is neglected or abused because firefighters as a profession, take much pride in their equipment because their’s and the public’s lives depend on it. So Oversight, I hope you will take time to educate yourself of the justifications for a purchase before you condemn it.
Excellent!
GREAT NEWS for OUR Firefighters.
Cannot imagine the dedication and GUTS it takes to enter a burning building in search of others who may be trapped or unable to escape.
Hopefully, this purchase will Protect and Serve those who come in our time of need.
May the Lord bless and protect our firefighters and all other First Responders.
You are each our Hero.
This is the county’s piss poor management on full display. How did the county get itself (us the taxpayers and the firefighters) into this predicament, and what is the next skeleton that’ll fall out of the closet when the door is opened? Isn’t there someone who is responsible for routine inspection and maintenance on equipment in the department and who should identify such issues in advance so things like this don’t become emergencies? Put in place better management practices along with a phase replacement program where equipment is purchased a little at a time to keep stuff current and within certification requirements because in five or so we’ll be right here again; all breathing apparatus’ will need replacement at the same time.