In an effort to improve public safety, the Hillsdale City Council voted unanimously to purchase a new truck for the city’s fire department at a Feb. 20 meeting.
The truck in need of replacement, a 1989 Federal Motors E1 pumper truck, acquired by the city in 1992, has a faulty pump system that hazards a break-down while on call.
“We’re at that critical juncture right now where we don’t necessarily have equipment that is operational all the time,” Fire Chief and Police Chief Scott Hephner said at the meeting.
Hephner added that the fire department’s number one priority is to serve the Hillsdale community by putting out fires and answering medical calls.
“That truck is necessary for us to succeed as an organization and do what we’re required to do,” he said.
Councilman Bruce Sharp said he was concerned the retirement of firefighter Eric Pressler — which coincides with the purchase of a new truck — will mean the fire department will not replace him with a full-time firefighter.
“My concern is to all public vacancy things,” he said at the meeting. “We had a police officer retire four years ago, and we never filled that vacancy.”
Pressler’s retirement leaves the fire department with three full-time firefighters instead of the usual four. Sharp cited a 2006 instance when a public vote decided there should be a minimum staff requirement of four full-time firefighters at all times. A subsequent court ruling deemed this vote invalid, so there are no minimum staff requirements.
Despite this hesitation, Sharp said he supported the fire department and voted in favor of the truck.
“This is the best solution for right now — and I trust Chief Hephner and his judgment,” he said afterward.
Councilmen Matt Bell, Brian Watkins, Bill Zeiser, and City Manager David Mackie were not present when the council decided to buy the truck.
The local community also showed support for buying a new pumper. Hillsdale resident Ted Jansen stepped up to the public podium before the city council discussed Hephner’s proposal and said the city should be doing all it can to aid the fire department.
“They’re willing to lay down their lives for us,” he said.
He then told the crowd that he would “put his money where his mouth was” and placed a $100 bill on the ground in front of the council to help them purchase a new fire engine, encouraging each council member to do the same.
Another resident, Denis Wainscott, said he is glad the city is buying a new truck, but he wished help would would have come sooner for the fire department.
“I don’t want to be one of the houses that they go to when the pumper decides to break down,” he said. “So every bit of informational or financial aid that we can give as a public should be given to them.”
The fire department received a federal grant in 2015 to buy and maintain new turnout gear, which includes boots, coats, gloves.
In addition, the fire department has applied for a federal grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replace its 1983 Pierce LTI ladder truck which has been called “the oldest operating fire truck in the state of Michigan” by state certification agents.
“It’s a $1 million truck. These grants are hard to get — they only spread out so many millions of dollars per year,” Hephner said.
The fire department has also applied for a grant to replace the station’s source point exhaust apparatuses, which clean poisonous air out of the truck’s system when it’s parked in stations. Hephner said the current fixtures often malfunction and that the company that made them no longer exists. Hephner estimates it would cost about $45,000 to replace them.
According to Hephner, the numbers of calls the fire department has answered in the past few years has risen 20 percent yearly, so all up-to-date equipment is the fire department’s first priority.
“What happens after we move forward is up in the air, but we have to provide a public service to our community,” he said. “The truck is an absolute need right now.”
