Henry County commissioners approved purchasing new fire engines at their November 19, 2024 meeting. The $7.5 million dollar purchase comes on the heels of a similar purchase, valued at $10.9 million, earlier this year. The purchase covers fire engines, a heavy rescue truck, and ambulances.
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November 2024 Fire Engines Purchase
Henry County will be buying several apparatus for the fire department. The November 2024 purchase covers the following vehicles:
- Two (2) Saber Custom BTO Pumpers – $1,986,800,
- Two (2) Saber Stock Program Pumpers – $2,200,000,
- One (1) Pierce Custom Heavy Rescue – $1,605,000,
- Two (2) Bruan Liberty Ambulances on Ford F-450 Chassis – $761,828, and
- Four (4) Braun Liberty Ambulance Remounts – $929,900.
- Total: $7,483,528
The county’s vendor is Ten-8 Fire & Safety, LLC from Forsyth, GA. They are the local vendor for Pierce Fire Manufacturing. Vehicle delivery times vary based on what’s being ordered. A nationwide backlog of equipment orders has led to two and three-year wait times for new fire engines. In addition, there’s a 2.5-year estimate to receive new ambulances.
The board unanimously approved the purchase. Before the vote, Commissioner Wilson asked if the county was buying or leasing the vehicles. According to Finance Director David Smith, their intent was to purchase them. The apparatus purchase earlier this year was first presented as a purchase, then later changed to a lease-agreement. In addition, Commissioner Anglyn praised the fire department for their fiscal stewardship. Because the county is pre-paying for these apparatus, the vendor is giving the county a $405 thousand discount.
Ambulance Remounts
The ambulance remounts, for those who may be unfamiliar, consists of removing the ambulance box off an existing pick-up truck. The vendor can then re-install the box onto the back of a new pick-up truck. This saves costs long-term while providing a new vehicle for the paramedics. There’s an 18-month estimate to complete this process.
The four remounts will remove the ambulance box off the county’s existing RAM truck chassis and re-install them on a Ford chassis. The availability of truck chassis has been an issue the last few years. For example, Henry County purchased new ambulances in September 2021. The last of those new vehicles did not arrive until spring 2024.
Fleet Replacement Plan & April 2024 Purchase
In January 2024, Henry County adopted its first annual replacement plan for the fire department. This plan outlines when to replace engines. The replacement plan covers all fire apparatus. This includes engines, ladders, tankers, rescue squads and ambulances.
The April 2024 purchase was the first purchase under the new replacement plan. At the time, Henry County approved buying the following:
- 2 Stock Pumper Engines,
- 2 Custom-Built Pumper Engines,
- 2 Tanker Engines, and
- 1 Aerial 107’ Ladder Truck.
The purchase cost was $7.5 million. The county later revised this cost to $10,854,137 because they opted to lease the equipment. The board approved the lease-purchase agreement in August.
Featured image shows Henry County Fire Rescue apparatus. Henry County Fire Rescue photo.
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