ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council approved legislation Monday, Nov. 6 to authorize executing a master lease agreement with JP Morgan Chase Bank to provide for the city’s acquisition of replacement equipment and vehicles for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department in an amount not to exceed $19 million, the Atlanta City Council said in a press release. This item was an immediate consideration and sent to the mayor’s office post-haste.
- Atlanta Fire Chief Addresses Out-of-Service Apparatus
- Atlanta (GA) Finance Committee Votes to Approve $16M for Much-Needed Fire Apparatus
- Three Atlanta (GA) Fire Stations to Close Temporarily Due to Apparatus Shortage
Other items approved include:
• A resolution requesting Invest Atlanta authorize Tax Allocation District funding at $8.7 million for Atlanta Fire Rescue Department’s emergency fleet replacement purchases to include fire engines, battalion chief vehicles, and heavy apparatus (23-R-4261).
- Due to an aging fire apparatus fleet, the City and its Atlanta Fire Rescue Department has experienced many days where upwards of 15 to 20 fire apparatus are out of service due to mechanical issues; and
- Recent data over 2023 has shown that the apparatus out of service include upwards of 13 engines/pumpers and 10 tractor-drawn aerial/ladder trucks (including the City’s only “tower” truck; and
- There have been multiple documented structure fires recently where the nearest engine or truck was out of service, responding trucks had non-functioning ladders or nozzles, or where trucks had been reassigned to other sectors or battalions within the City due to out-of-service equipment; and
- Many of the City’s fire engines and trucks are over ten years old, have over 100,000 miles, with some over 20 years old and approaching 200,000 miles, and have frequent issues related to their wear and tear that take them out of service and unavailable to ensure the public safety of the City’s citizens and visitors; and
- Due to over 1/3 of the engine and truck fleet being down on the worst days, “mutual aid assistance” has been called in for other municipalities’ apparatus and staff to man City of Atlanta Fire Rescue Department stations; and
- Fire engines/pumpers are needed to supply water from the City’s hydrant system to fire hoses and other apparatus to fight and extinguish different types of fires, as well as respond to emergency medical calls and vehicle collisions, and tractor-drawn aerial (TDA) fire trucks are needed to fight structure fires, with a usual assignment of three trucks being dispatched to a structure fire, with even more needed for larger, multiple-alarm fires, and also serve as important apparatus that is used to “safe-up” vehicle collision scenes upon Atlanta’s multiple interstate highways; and
- The City, in order to maintain a healthy fleet to protect the citizens of the City of Atlanta and its visitors, should be purchasing at least of six fire apparatus per year (including two TDAs and four engines), but has fallen well short of that over the past decade plus due to prior administrations’ lax commitments to public safety and the City’s fleet in general; and,
- The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department Chief and the Atlanta Department of Public Works Commissioner has acknowledged severe mechanical and maintenance issues plaguing the City’s fire fleet; and
- A typical engine pumper costs upwards of $900,000.00, a typical tractor-drawn aerial fire truck costs upwards of $1,800,000.00, and a typical battalion/division chief vehicle costs upwards of $125,000.00; and
- The City’s ISO (Insurance Services Office) Fire Score, up for renewal within the year, is a rating that determines how well the fire department can protect your community and home. With insurance companies using the score to help set home insurance rates, as a home that is less likely to be severely damaged or destroyed by fire is cheaper to insure, and this severe level of out of service equipment that continues to exist and grow within the City affects response times, and thus a greater potential for more extensive fire damage because of a structure fire; and
- To reduce the burden on the city’s general fund reserves, any emergency fire apparatus replacements needed at fire stations located within non-corridor tax allocation districts (TADs), were separated out to have the emergency funding sought from the station’s respective tax allocation district; and
- Accordingly, it is the desire of the Atlanta City Council to submit an official request to Invest Atlanta for TAD district funding from the Perry Bolton TAD in the amount of One Million Nine Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars and Zero Cents ($1,925,000.00) to purchase a new Engine 22, a new Engine 28, and a new Battalion Chief Two vehicle (to be stationed at Station 22); and
- It is also the desire of the Atlanta City Council to submit an official request to Invest Atlanta for TAD district funding from the Westside TAD in the amount of Two Million Eight Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars and Zero Cents ($2,825,000.00) to purchase a new Engine 1, a new Truck 1 Tractor-Drawn Aerial (TDA), and a new Division Chief One vehicle; and
- The Atlanta City Council desires that upon approval of the applicable TAD and Invest Atlanta Boards that the TAD district funding requested herein, in a total amount of four million seven hundred fifty thousand dollars and zero cents ($4,750,000.00) across the two TADs, would be transferred to the City of Atlanta for the emergency fleet replacement purchases as described in this Resolution on behalf of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department; and
- In addition to the official requests provided in this Resolution a companion ordinance was introduced on October 2, 2023 for the city to spend $10,525,000.00 from general fund reserves for additional fire apparatus replacement purchases of fourteen (14) new fire apparatus, including seven (7) new engines/pumpers and two (2) new truck drawn aerial (TDA) fire apparatus (fire trucks), and five (5) battalion/division chief vehicles.
