WHITEWATER REGION — Whitewater Region fire chief Jonathan Wilker was all smiles when council agreed to the purchase of a 2019 Rosenbauer RXT Tanker Truck.
This tanker replaces a 1970 GMC tanker at Station 1 and a 1987 Ford tanker at Station 2, which are no longer operable. The two of them combined held less than 3,000 gallons of water.
“This tanker replaces the two of them and holds 3,000 gallons of water,” he told council at its Nov. 7 council meeting.
Chief Administrative Officer Robert Tremblay noted authorization for this truck was approved at a September council meeting due to the two tankers being no longer in use.
“Trucks don’t live for ever” and “there are funds in reserve now for the purchase but we will have to fund the rest of it,” he said. “We’re ordering it now and paying for it in 2019.
“This is the third truck, due to age, that we’ve had to replace,” he noted.
The tender was awarded to ResQTech Systems Inc. for $347,271.35 (HST not included).
There is one more aging tanker to be replaced, as it is “very old” and money should be put in reserve to replace it, CAO Tremblay added.
“We have a fleet of vehicles that we’ve invested in a lot this year, and there’s still one more to go,” he said.
Mayor Hal Johnson was supportive of the purchase.
“This is a very good purchase,” he said. “We got ourselves into a bit of a pickle here having that many trucks go down that weren’t scheduled in the replacement system.
“We definitely need it.”
Mayor Johnson was always in favour of a larger tanker versus smaller ones.
“It’s nice to see something that you thought would work come about,” he added.
The tanker is under 31 feet and will fit in all five fire stations, Chief Wilker said.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin agreed with the mayor, noting it’s easier to maintain one piece of equipment rather than several. He also likes that it can go into any of the fire stations in Whitewater Region.
