Iola is the new owner of a brush truck that officials say will greatly enhance the city’s ability to fight grass and brush fires.
City Council members approved Monday the purchase of a 2017 Skeeter Ford Commercial 4×4 brush truck for $279,000. Money will come out of the Fire Department’s capital projects budget.
The deal came together rather quickly after Iola Fire Chief Corey Isbell learned of the truck’s availability recently via Brindlee Mountain, a buyer and seller of used fire equipment.
Isbell and City Administrator Matt Rehder encouraged the Council to approve the deal quickly because of the dire need for a brush truck.
“The day it hit the market was the day I found out about it,” said Isbell, who spoke to the Council via Zoom because he was in Alabama to inspect the vehicle.
Brindlee Mountain agreed to reserve the truck until next week for Iola to give the Council time to decide on whether to approve the purchase.
Buying now carried advantages over following the city’s traditional policy because ordering a new truck with similar capabilities would likely cost in excess of $400,000, Isbell said.
And because of nationwide supply chain issues, it would likely be at least two years before a new truck could be purchased, equipped and put in service.
The purchase carried an extra sense of urgency because the two trucks the city uses are not designed for brush and grass fires, Isbell noted.
Unit 312, a 1989 GMC, was taken out of service last year because it failed a pump test, leaving only Unit 315, a half-ton pickup equipped with a smaller pump insufficient for “big brush fires,” Isbell said. “That’s why I’m coming to you with this today.”
Moreso, simply repairing the pump on the older truck is still problematic, because it’s a two-wheel drive vehicle, Isbell continued.
“Take a two-wheel drive out into the mud, you’re gonna get stuck,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened with 312 multiple times. We’ve about burned it to the ground multiple times because it got stuck.”
Councilman Carl Slaugh cast the lone dissenting vote against the purchase, because buying now would run afoul of the city’s purchasing policy, which requires the city to seek bids for such a costly purchase
“My big concern is we have no perspective or comparisons with what a new brush truck with the same capabilities as this one would cost,” Slaugh said.
Mayor Steve French said Iola would be wise to eschew the policy this time because of the aforementioned supply line shortages and higher costs to buy new.
“It seems to be the new way of doing business when it comes to new vehicle purchases,” French said. “It curries a trickle effect to our industrial policy. I realize we have a purchasing policy.”
