By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Common Council is discussing how to move forward with replacing the Elkhorn Area Fire Department’s aerial truck.
At the council’s Nov. 11 meeting, Fire Chief Trent Eichmann said the department’s 1999 American LaFrance, 100-foot, rear-mounted aerial truck could no longer be kept in service, and the manufacturer had been out of business for 12 years.
Eichmann requested he be allowed to dispose of the truck by selling it for scrap because of the damage to the aerial device that would cost more to repair than the truck is worth, with the funds from scrapping then going toward the purchase of a used aerial truck and refurbishment of the vehicle, which would reset the National Fire Protection Association lifecycle of the apparatus, which is 20 years.
The council approved a motion to scrap the parts of the ladder truck to Wisconsin Surplus at that meeting.
At its special meeting on Nov. 18, Eichmann said after doing some research, the $1.32 million the city had budgeted for a used truck and refurbishment in 2025 is looking like it might not be an option unless the city tries to go and buy a different used truck than the one he originally had lined up.
Eichmann said used trucks in the 12 to 15 year age range typically cost around $400,000 to $600,000, plus the cost of refurbishment, coming to $1.4 million to $1.7 million.
As such, he said he got a set of quotes from Fire Service Inc. on two different trucks, one a 110-foot, rear-mount 2024 Spartan Gladiator that would be available in January 2025 at $1.74 million and the other a 100-foot, rear-mount KME Tuff Truck that wouldn’t be available until late 2025.
Eichmann said part of his concern is what the Elkhorn Area Fire Department covers as a jurisdiction, which includes two multistory hospitals in Walworth County, two multistory hotels, all the schools, the county complex buildings, the industrial park, several multistory apartment complexes and the coming Creekside apartment complex.
When it comes to ground ladders, the ones firefighters carry in off the trucks, Eichmann said the department doesn’t have anything capable of reaching anything above a second-story window at this point.
He additionally noted that, as of Nov. 18, twice in the past three weeks there had been two MABAS incidents going on at the same time that tapped out fire resources in the area.
“So, if we have MABAS incidents going on and something happens in our community, we’re looking at Racine, Kenosha counties, Waukesha County, or worst case scenario we’re looking for Janesville or Beloit to come up,” he said. “That’s a long ride if we have people in a hospital or trapped somewhere else that we can’t get to.”
For the full story, please see the print edition of the Elkhorn Independent.
