Pipestone to purchase new fire truck


Pipestone City Council members during their July 6 meeting approved the purchase of a new fire truck, as requested by Pipestone Fire Chief Corey Popma.
Popma said Robert and Herman Meinders have donated $100,000 toward the purchase of a $704,748 heavy rescue pumper.
“This is very, very generous by the Meinders family,” said Pipestone Mayor Myron Koets.
Popma said the Rural Fire Association would pay for 25 percent of the total cost and the city would pay for the remaining $419,752.25. He said the price was available until July 15 and would increase by $15,000 after that and even more after the end of July.
A down payment of $305,880, of which the city’s share would be $129,410, must be paid when the chassis is delivered four to six months after the contract is signed in order to receive a discount of $11,745. The remaining $387,123 must be paid when the truck is complete, which is expected to be 425 days after the contract is signed.
City Administrator Jeff Jones said the city identified the need for a new truck during the budgeting process last year, but that no funds have been budgeted for the purchase. He said the donation from Robert and Herman Meinders accelerated the city’s ability to purchase the vehicle. The city is looking into options to cover its share of the cost including reserve funds, liquor store funds, bond funds or a lease/purchase arrangement like it used for the ladder truck back in 2013.
Popma said the heavy rescue pumper would replace a pumper truck owned by the Rural Fire Association and an emergency rescue vehicle owned by the city. The pumper truck is a 1994 and the emergency rescue vehicle is a 1999. Popma said there are some potential buyers for the emergency rescue vehicle, which is valued at about $20,000.
Popma said equipment for grain bin rescues, rope rescues and trench rescues, a cascade system to refill firefighters’ air bottles, winches and the jaws of life will be kept on the new heavy rescue vehicle. He said the truck will have a 1,000 gallon water tank and be able to pump 1,250 gallons a minute.
“This rescue vehicle will have everything that we want on one vehicle now versus multiple vehicles,” Popma said.
Popma said the vehicle would likely last 25 to 30 years and will transport up to eight people.
“It’s going to be an all around great heavy rescue truck,” he said. “My vision in the future is that it’s going to go to every call and its going to be the truck that’s first out of the barn, where now it depends on the call.”
City council member and former firefighter Rodger Smidt said during a special meeting prior to the council’s regular meeting that he supported the purchase because of the donation from the Meinders family, the Rural Fire Association contribution and the fact that it would replace two vehicles with one, reducing maintenance costs and saving room in the fire hall.
“I think we need to figure out how to get this going,” Smidt said.
The council unanimously supported the purchase during its regular meeting.