LFR battling to get new, desperately needed equipment

Posted By: Rachael Miner

rminer@klkntv.com

You count on them in an emergency, but soon you could have to wait longer for help to arrive.

"We’re going to have to make a decision do we brown out a station or do we do an emergency purchase?" said Fire Chief Micheal Despain.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue is battling to get eleven new apparatuses, or fire trucks and engines.

City Council voted to approve the purchase of nine vehicles in the biannual budget but that’s simply not enough.

Once purchased the trucks take over a year to build and deliver.

"Unfortunately the front line that we have is so old that now the reserve is in better shape so we are starting to put our reserve back in front line status, so that’s how bad it is," Chief Despain said.

The trucks and engines LFR has are all 18 years old or older.

The nine vehicles City Council approved would go to replace ones in dire need of it.

The additional two that LFR would purchase would go to the two new stations currently being built.

The city only has three backup vehicles.

If those additional units are not purchased, two that are now in reserve will have to be used.

"If we don’t have new apparatus to put in there we’re going to take this older apparatus that’s already struggling to serve the current city and we’re going to try to stretch the use even thinner by adding two new units out there."

Taking vehicles out of reserve puts the department in a bind if an emergency arises.

It also increases response times because trucks would be covering more ground.

The lack of vehicles could lead LFR to placing a station on brown out, or temporarily closing it.

Money for the additional units would have to come from the cities quarter cent sales tax that goes through September.

The decision to use tax money for the fire department has been delayed for over a month. City Council says they want to hear more public opinion on the matter.

They’re expected to vote on it September 17th.