Escambia Votes To Buy One Of Two New Ladder Trucks; ‘Ladder 5′ In Century Down For 600 Days

September 8, 2022

In a special meeting this week, the Escambia County Commission voted to buy one of two suddenly available ladder trucks for the fire department. The vote came amid discussion of the need for additional aerial trucks and Escambia County Fire Rescue’s “Ladder 5″ stationed in Century that’s been out of service for about 600 days.

The trucks were offered at a discount to Escambia County under an Orange County contract after the Orange County purchaser backed out.

Escambia County Administrator Wes Moreno said the county would receive a discount of about $250,000 total for the two trucks, while Commissioner Robert Bender said later in a special meeting that it was $250,000 each. In addition, they would arrive over a year earlier than two aerial trucks Escambia County planned to order anyway after the next budget cycle.

“I felt like it was a good situation in which we could save some money now on purchasing the equipment that we are going to need anyway,” Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore told commissioners, “and get them in a little quicker than we thought.”

Commissioner Steven Barry made the motion to purchase just one of the trucks, a 2023 E-ONE HR100 aerial ladder for $1,251,724.30. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Lumon May. If only purchasing one of the two trucks, the ladder was Gilmore’s preference.

Commissioner Robert Bender pointed out that the new Beulah Fire Station will have the space to house a ladder truck, need for other ladders in the county and the downtime for Ladder 5 in Century.

Commissioner Doug Underhill said he would support purchasing the second truck because growth will mean new fire stations and a need for new equipment, and he said the time to save money is now due to inflation.

“This is almost certainly the cheapest that we will be able to purchase equipment,” Underhill said, adding that if Barry’s motion for just the one truck was approved, he would motion to purchase the second truck, a 2023 E-ONE 100-foot aerial platform for $$1,527,087.

“I think today’s a win. We get a brand new piece of equipment…we are going to get it a year and a half early. I’m certainly going to support my counterparts in the motion that they’ve made,” Barry said. “I think putting out $1.2 million on top  of all of the other money we have put into fire…moving forward with one gives us a little more time to evaluate the fleet. And I think that’s the prudent step to take.”

Barry’s motion passed unanimously, and Underhill immediately made a motion to purchase the second aerial platform truck. With no discussion, the motion failed 3-2 with Underhill and Bender voting in favor.

“Having the new truck will allow us to evaluate our current situation with ladders, giving us some breathing room to take one out of service when needed to bring it back up to full,” Gilmore said.

ECFR will evaluate the best placement for the new truck before it arrives sometime around November or December of next year. Another previously ordered ladder truck is scheduled to arrive in September 2023.

Gilmore told NorthEscambia.com Wednesday that he hopes Ladder 5 in Century will be back in service soon. In 2012, the Century Fire Station received the refurbished 1991 75-foot ladder truck that was formerly assigned to the Ensley Fire Station. Gilmore said it has become impossible to find some parts for the truck, but they have now obtained and will convert a part to put the truck back in service.

Pictured top: The 31-year old “Ladder 5″, assigned to Century Fire Station, as seen in January 2012 after it was refurbished. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

6 Responses to “Escambia Votes To Buy One Of Two New Ladder Trucks; ‘Ladder 5′ In Century Down For 600 Days”

  1. Josh Jones on September 9th, 2022 12:02 pm

    @Lance

    “What was the reason Orange County backed out of the purchase?”

    Probably something to do with the bone-headed decision of the governor to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District because he didn’t like some things Disney was saying. Now the citizens of Orange and Osceola counties will be saddled with the costs that Disney previously paid.

  2. Oversight on September 9th, 2022 6:27 am

    Apparatus out of service for 600 days? Doesn’t seem like a priority for the county’s emergency department to get it repaired. With this ask yourself, has the unavailablity of this firetruck negatively impacted Century or the surrounding area? The answer is there’s no need for it and thus the zero priority in fixing it.

  3. Willis on September 8th, 2022 9:39 pm

    Jacqueline I’ve seen a lot of fire trucks riding around as well as going to calls.
    Odd thing, haven’t seen one with the windows down.
    So that’s about as believable to me as catfish ponds was to you.

  4. Lance on September 8th, 2022 11:11 am

    What was the reason Orange County backed out of the purchase?

  5. CJ Lewis on September 8th, 2022 10:26 am

    Hard to believe that Ladder 5 has been non-operational for 600+ days. Did the BOCC know? Was the Town of Century told? Obviously, it was not “impossible” to find parts because “they have now been obtained.” Did anyone think to have a machine shop manufacture the parts? At election time, commissioners always say that their top priority if public safety but when it comes time to spend money it is not. Rather than spend $1.5 million for fire equipment, the BOCC gave or will give the City of Pensacola $1.3 million for tennis courts and $4 million for homeless stuff. For the 2024 election cycle, we need to have Deputies, Firefighters and/or Paramedics run as candidates to make pubic safety the top issue.

  6. Jacqueline on September 8th, 2022 8:46 am

    Very short sighted to not purchase both vehicles!
    Often we have one or two of our aerial trucks down and they said Ladder 5 has been down for 600+ days!!!
    They are needed NOW, nevermind the growth that Comm. Barry always pushes for. Negligent.

    The fundamental responsibility of government is Public Safety and Infrastructure!!! To not protect our community responsibly and listen to your own Public Safety Director and numerous Fire Chiefs over the years that have called for better fire vehicles is Unconscionable!
    Interesting that no reason was given in the meeting by Comm. Barry or Bergosh for their vote against purchasing the second needed aerial and a discounted price and speeded up delivery! What is more important than this? North Escambia reported that tax revenue is up 13+% due to increased home values.

    I’d like to see Barry, Bergosh, and May do ride alongs with fire crews in fully suited up in the fire trucks with broken AC.
    That might change their perspective on the bad condition of our fire fleet.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News