By Marc Katz
The Dayton Daily News
TROTWOOD, Ohio — Steve Milliken grins and laughs and agrees, yes, buying a fire truck is a lot like buying a car, but you aren’t exactly walking around the vehicle kicking tires.
“You have a menu,” said Milliken, a lieutenant and and acting battalion commander for the Trotwood Fire and Rescue Department. “In this case, this one is nine pages long.”
And it doesn’t have a radio or CD player listed. Your car doesn’t have a brass-tipped fire hose or 105-foot latter attached, either.
Trotwood Fire and Rescue recently purchased five vehicles — an aerial device, two pumpers and two medics (ambulances) — under the direction of acting Fire Chief Rick Wagner. The three fire trucks came in at just more than $1.5 million, while the two ambulances were purchased used but with plenty of wear left at a bargain $50,000.
Research and final purchase of the vehicles — which will be delivered in the next two months — took about a year as there are 15-20 fire truck builders nationally with lots of options.
When you’re dealing with vehicles that can use up to 60 quarts of oil per oil change and can take 2-3 weeks at a charge of $3,000 to $4,000 to service, you need to be careful what you buy. The life expectancy for the vehicles is 12 to 15 years.
“They did a nice job of finding the best equipment at the best price,” said Trotwood city manager Mike Lucking. “We’re really pleased with the research that went into what they purchased.”
Milliken and Wagner also are happy with the citizens of Trotwood, who passed a fire levy last fall.
“We were able to make these purchases because of the levy the Trotwood residents so generously passed, in this economy,” Milliken said. “We can’t begin to tell you how happy we were about that.”
Milliken said he, Wagner and other battalion commanders made a list of all the things they wanted in their new equipment, then pared the list deciding on what was a need or a want. For instance, they added a foam system for putting out fires more efficiently. Also ordered was a special container for a $25,000 cardiac monitor they didn’t want sitting around unprotected.
During their research, the Trotwood team discovered it could save money by buying stock units and customizing those.
“It’s what a manufacturer builds to take to shows,” Milliken said. “If you start with one of those, you can add what you want and also cut down on delivery time.”
Among other vehicles, Trotwood found an aerial truck that was used one time for a training session and driven from Appleton, Wis., to Indianapolis.
Wagner estimates his department saved more than $300,000 and still managed to purchase what it wanted and needed.
The Trotwood department responds to about 1,200 fires a year (only about 100 of them “working structure fires”) as well as nearly 500 calls a month for ambulances. Trotwood is 27 square miles, the second largest city (to Dayton) in Montgomery County.
Copyright 2010 Dayton Newspapers, Inc.