Purchase of two used fire rigs and the addition of a new combination unit next year will cost Jackson County Fire District 5 nearly $1 million, but it will get it much closer to fleet recommendations made in 2018 by a consulting firm.
The district will have fewer units, but the equipment would be better suited to the areas it covers.
A 2018 study by Specialty Fleet Consulting recommended immediate replacement, repair and retrofit of a significant portion of the district’s rolling stock due to age, wear and safety concerns. The district’s board of directors adopted the study recommendations into its business plan strategy in April 2018.
“It gets us really close to the recommendation,” said district fire Chief Charles Hanley. “We couldn’t follow all the recommendations. That would have been too costly to overhaul the entire fleet. We did a combination of things.”