To comply with insurance requirements, the Addison Township Fire Department needs to add a ladder truck to its fleet, but it’s not going to be purchasing one anytime soon.
The plan is to possibly lease a 1981 Sutphen aerial ladder truck from the City of Rochester Fire Department. The township currently doesn’t have a ladder truck available.
According to Addison Township Fire Chief George Spencer, a new ladder truck can cost anywhere from $500,000 to $750,000, but he will be recommending to the township board that the department should lease the Rochester truck for two years at $100 per month.
Spencer said ladder trucks are typically used for maneuvering large amounts of water over the top of a large fire, storing extra equipment like self-contained breathing apparatus and more hose.
‘All the kind of firefighting tools we need while we’re out there doing our thing,? the fire chief said.
Not having an additional ladder truck would cost the department as many as two points on their Insurance Service Office (ISO) reviews, which are conducted every 15 years.
Extra points would result in higher insurance premiums for residents, according to Spencer.
The ISO is a private nies to determine a fire department’s capacity to serve the public by conducting reviews and surveys.
Spencer said Addison Township is due for their survey at the end of this year. He would like to have possession of the truck before then.
The township has been housing Rochester’s ladder truck at Station #1 since May 2006. The department would begin using it immediately if the board decides the lease is acceptable.
‘It’s going to be very inexpensive for us and yet the benefits we’re gonna get when ISO comes in to do our survey are going to be pretty significant,? Spencer said.
Spencer noted that it is ‘undetermined? what the department will do once the two-year lease is up.
The Addison Township Board of Trustees will decide if the fire department can lease the ladder truck at their rescheduled regular meeting Jan. 25.