At a special meeting last week, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue commissioners voted unanimously to approve the purchase of a new fire engine for the district, at a total cost of $886,000, including sales tax.
The decision followed the news, announced by Fire Chief Matt Vinci at a regular board meeting on Sept. 27, that two of the district’s engines, both 23 years old, had recently failed their annual pump tests. Those two engines were immediately taken out of service, with repair prioritized for only one of the engines.
After that engine’s repair, it will be placed in the Burton Station, said Vinci, now slated to reopen by Nov. 1.
The new engine, a stock Pierce Enforcer Pumper truck purchased from Hughes Fire Equipment in Tacoma, is currently slated to be delivered in the spring.
A stock engine was recommended for the purchase because custom-built fire engines now take up to two to three years to be delivered, Vinci said, due to supply chain and other issues.
The engine was purchased with funds taken from VIFR’s fleet reserve fund, resulting in a pre-payment discount of approximately $25,000.
This purchase closely follows another major improvement to VIFR’s fleet — in August, commissioners voted to buy two new ambulances for the district. The ambulances, to be custom-built by Horton Emergency Vehicles and delivered to Vashon next January, will replace two VIFR ambulances that are now 11 and 14 years old.
The total price tag for the ambulances was $826,000 which included approximately $18,000 in discounts for pre-payment and the purchase of multiple units.
For that major expense, VIFR tapped a windfall settlement of $748,843, recently received from the federal government’s Ground Emergency Medical Transport Program (GEMT), which provides supplemental payments to close the gap between the district’s actual costs and amounts received from transporting Washington Apple Health (Medicaid) patients.
Improvements to the district’s fleet were emphasized in the district’s latest strategic plan and also in the campaign for a “levy lid lift” measure approved by island voters in August. Vinci and others have repeatedly characterized the district’s aging fleet as costly to maintain and increasingly unsafe for island residents or fire district staff.
Housing unit arrives at Burton Fire Station
Another improvement touted as central to the district’s strategic plan — reopening the Burton Fire Station — will also soon be accomplished.
A new, 615 square foot, two-bedroom modular housing structure, purchased by the district in August, has now arrived in Burton and is currently being installed as temporary housing for two district firefighters, in rotating shifts, to fully staff that fire station. The station is set to reopen by Nov. 1, Vinci said.
The new modular structure is placed in the existing parking area on the western side of Burton Station. Purchased from Wolf Industries, it cost the district $146,350, a price inclusive of the structure itself, its furnishings, and its installation.
For Vinci, the purchases of new vehicles and the reopening of the Burton Fire Station are a win for everyone on Vashon.
“The hard work of our staff and the support of our community and commissioners is all now coming together to provide the high level of emergency services that our island deserves,” he said.
