St. Clair Shores City Council approves firetruck purchase

ST. CLAIR SHORES — At the June 19 meeting, the St. Clair Shores City Council approved the purchase of an already-built, demonstration model firetruck by a vote of 7-0.

The price of the firetruck was $779,597.

City Manager Dustin Lent said it was discussed at their work study session. He said the firetruck they have looked at and originally purchased isn’t going to be ready until 2025. Lent also cleared up questions about the timeline and process of getting the demonstration firetruck.

They have a firefighter group that had to review the vehicle, Lent said.

“It took some time for them to actually bring the demo firetruck to our station for the chief to be able to review it,” Lent said.

After that, the letter of recommendation to purchase the firetruck was drafted to Lent.

Lent said they did tell the company they have positive feedback from the City Council about the demo truck and that the purchase was listed as pending because of the council’s interest.

Councilman Chris Vitale asked if it would be possible to salvage some of the parts from one of the city’s existing trucks. Fire Chief James Piper said the oldest truck in the current fleet does have a “twin sister” and that it could be an option to keep some parts.

Piper said later in an interview that the demonstration firetruck was built by Spencer Manufacturing out of South Haven.

He said when they learned it was still available, they decided to look into it. The dealership that makes the department’s ambulances, Kodiak, approached the Fire Department about the demo firetruck.

“It was good timing that that truck was available, and we were made aware of it at a time when we already had one on order because we needed to replace a few of our firetrucks anyway,” Piper said.

Employees of the Fire Department were able to look at the firetruck, Piper said, and it was a good match.

In the industry, Piper said, it currently takes three to four years to procure a new firetruck to department specifications. He said the firetruck they already have on order was first estimated to be here between August 2024 and November of 2024 but that, now, it’s going to be ready around October 2025.

“Before COVID, that was maybe two years for a firetruck. Ambulances used to be a year to year and a half, tops. Now they’re coming in two to three years,” Piper said.

Talking to the city manager and council, they agreed they have to keep the fleet updated.

“Unfortunately, the delays that are happening in the industry mean you have to plan so far ahead now,” Piper said.

Piper said the vendors are telling him that there are issues with the supply chain, but that he’s not sure which part of the supply chain. He said that a previous vehicle was delayed because of the chip shortage, he said.

“The manufacturing, the place they actually put them together seem(s) to all be fine, it’s just a matter of, they’re not necessarily short people, it’s short the items,” Piper said.

Along with delays in manufacturing, the prices of firetrucks have been going up as well. Piper said the last two trucks, the one they originally ordered and the demo, are $724,000 and $779,000 respectively. He said these are not fancy trucks.

“Ten years ago, or even earlier in my career, $700,000 was the price of a ladder truck. Now, that’s the price of a pumper,” Piper said.

Piper said the city has done a good job at keeping up the firetrucks, but they do get a lot of use, hence the need for the new trucks.

“On any given day, we really have to have four working engines here in town,” Piper said. “It takes a lot to keep the fleet up and running and the city, thankfully, does a good job at it and our firefighters do a really good job of maintaining and checking on them, making sure they’re ready to go every single day.”