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9.1 SR 07-18-2022 Request for Action To Item Number Mayor and City Council 9.1 Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by Work Session July 18, 2022 Mark Dickinson, Fire Chief Item Description Reviewed by Fire Department Aerial Truck Purchase Cal Portner, City Administrator Reviewed by Action Requested Discuss and provide direction to staff for the purchase of a new Aerial Truck to replace the current Aerial. Background/Discussion The current Aerial Truck for the Fire Department is over 30 years old and is due to be replaced. Chief Dickinson will review the need for this replacement. Financial Impact $1.7 Million Mission/Policy/Goal Elk River Vision Attachments  None The Elk River Vision A welcoming community with revolutionary and spirited resourcefulness, exceptional service, and community engagement that encourages and inspires prosperity. Updated: August 2020 Replacement of Elk River Fire Department Aerial Ladder Truck BACKGROUND: The Elk River Fire Department purchased our current Aerial truck in 1989 and it went into service in 1990. Since then, the Aerial has been refurbished once in 2014. This piece of apparatus is an important part of our fleet to successfully serve the community and keep firefighters safe at incident scenes. With being over 30 years old, it has exceeded its front-line condition and is best served as a reserve piece of apparatus. It is recommended for replacement. NFPA 1911 STANDARDS FOR THE INSPECTION, MAINTENANCE, TESTING, AND RETIREMENT OF IN-SERVICE AUTOMOTIVE FIRE APPARTATUS. “Apparatus manufactured prior to 1991 usually included only a few of the safety upgrades required by the 1991 and subsequent editions of the NFPA fire department apparatus standards or the equivalent Underwriters’ Laboratories of Canada (ULC) standards. Because the changes, upgrades, and fine tuning to NFPA 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus, since 1991 have been truly significant, especially in the area of safety, fire departments should seriously consider the value (or risk) to fire fighters of keeping pre-1991 fire apparatus in first-line service.” “It is recommended that apparatus manufactured prior to 1991 that is less than 25 years old, that has been properly maintained, and that is still in serviceable condition should be placed in reserve status and upgraded to incorporate as many features as possible of the post-1991 fire apparatus (see Section D.3). Apparatus that was not manufactured to the applicable NFPA fire apparatus standards or that is over 25 years old should be replaced.” High-hazard occupancies (schools, hospitals, nursing homes, high-rise buildings): at least four pumpers, two ladder trucks, and other specialized apparatus as may be identified or available for the hazard. Medium-hazard occupancies (apartments, offices, mercantile and industrial occupancies not normally requiring extensive rescue or firefighting capabilities): at least three pumpers, one ladder truck, and other specialized apparatus as may be identified or available. Low-hazard occupancies (one-, two-, or three-family dwellings and scattered businesses and industrial occupancies): at least two pumpers, one ladder truck, and other specialized apparatus as may be identified or available. AERIAL DEVICE JUSTIFICATION  The “old school “rule governing whether a fire department required an aerial device, or not, was based on when the portable ground ladders within a fire department would no longer reach the upper windows or the roof of buildings in the community, then an aerial device was needed.  It typically takes three or more firefighters to raise and place a long ground ladder.  If at any given time a department has insufficient personnel to achieve this task safely and without exposure to injury, while issuing an attack and laying out hose lines, then an aerial device is needed.  Terrain and landscape oddities may make it impossible for firefighters to gain access to two- or three-story structures with ground ladders  Rescue operations from a second or third story window from a ladder is extremely dangerous to the victim as well as the firefighters  Communities with historic downtowns, large square footage buildings, such as warehouses, large department stores, etc. require a safe means of delivery fire suppression from an elevated position.  Interior operations in older buildings are prone to earlier collapse, aerial operations offer us a chance to safely ventilate these structures.  New homes are 30% larger in size than what was being built prior to 2009 (We do not have 1200 sq ft ranch houses anymore.  The Fire service needs to grow with the community ISO BENEFITS  A citation from Section 540 of the Insurance Services Office (ISO) Fire Suppression Rating Schedule specifically states, “Response areas with 5 buildings that are 3 stories or 35 feet or more in height, or \[have\] 5 buildings that have a Needed Fire Flow greater than 3,500 gpm, or any combination of these criteria, should have a ladder company."  To receive the highest points in an ISO evaluation for ladder service, the ladder unit must reach the roof of the tallest building in its service area or be one hundred’ long, whichever is less  An aerial device can significantly improve a fire district’s ISO rating, lowering a community’s property insurance premiums.