Melissa Frick
mlive.com
(TNS)
EAST GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The city of East Grand Rapids is seeking to replace one of its aging fire trucks with a new $1.6 million aerial platform vehicle.
City Manager Shea Charles said it will likely be four years until the new truck arrives. The East Grand Rapids City Commission voted Monday, Feb. 3, to approve the purchase and lock in the price for the new Pierce Ascendant 110-foot aerial platform fire truck at $1,647,190 with a $82,360 contingency.
The city’s public safety department has two fire trucks – a 100-foot aerial and a pumper, said Director Ric Buikema. The current aerial truck was purchased in 2000 and has reached the end of its lifespan, he said.
Buikema said the proposed truck is a “stock unit” truck from Pierce with only one modification: the addition of a medical storage unit, because the truck sometimes responds to medical calls. He said the city avoided customizing the truck with any extra bells and whistles in an effort to keep costs low.
“We put a lot of time and effort into looking into this aerial replacement,” he told commissioners Monday. “We feel like this crosses all the boxes for us.”
East Grand Rapids is lucky to have had very few structure fires, and most actual fires are handled by first responders on the scene, Charles said. However, the city needs two fire trucks for both back up and in case of a significant fire.
In 2024, the city’s public safety department responded to 189 fire calls and 202 medical responses, which the aerial truck sometimes responds to as backup, Buikema said.
Charles said the city needs an aerial truck to be able to reach some of the taller buildings in East Grand Rapids, like the Corewell Blodgett campus. City officials felt it would be safer for officers to have a platform truck instead of a ladder. The cost difference between a ladder and platform is between $60,000 and $70,000, according to a city memo about the purchase.
The four-year lead time to acquire the new truck is similar to what the city of Ann Arbor is currently facing.
The new truck will be paid for with funds from the city’s capital improvement budget, Charles said. Payment is not due until the end of the four-year waiting period, when the truck is ready for inspection.
During Monday’s meeting, commissioners discussed whether the city should be looking into an electric fire truck to keep in line with the city’s long-term climate goals.
Some commissioners wanted to postpone the purchase of the new $1.6 million truck until the next meeting, so that Buikema could see if any electric options would be available in the coming years. However, other commissioners questioned the viability of an electric fire truck and wanted to first research the success of other cities that have purchased electric trucks.
Commissioners ended up authorizing the purchase on Monday to lock in the price, but with the condition that city staff research the availability of electric fire trucks and bring it back to the commission if they find a good option.
On Tuesday, Buikema told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press that the only EV fire trucks he had found on the market so far were for pumper trucks, not the aerial platform that the city is looking to replace.
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