By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
The West Glendive Fire Department will be adding two brand new wildland firefighting trucks to its fleet this year in a move which will also benefit the Dawson County Weed Department.
The county commissioners approved the purchase of the trucks at their Feb. 28 meeting. The total cost of the two trucks will be approximately $70,000, according to WGFD Chief Richie Crisafulli. The trucks will be funded partly through the WGFD’s own budget and partly from somewhere else in the county budget.
“They basically agreed to purchase it and they would later determine how to fund it,” said County Clerk and Recorder Shirley Kreiman.
The county is getting a much better deal on the new trucks than initially meets the eye, however.
Crisafulli said at the end of last year, when his department was reviewing their equipment needs, they determined they needed to add a newer wildland firefighting truck to their fleet. Initially, they considered whether to buy a single new truck at a cost of about $50,000 or two used trucks for $25,000. To do either, the WGFD needed financial support from the county, and the county commissioners agreed in December to commit $25,000 towards the purchase, matching what the WGD could put up for it.
Crisafulli said they ultimately decided it would be wiser to go with a new truck, rather than trying to find reliable used ones. But then a couple of things happened which opened the door to pursue not one, but two new trucks.
First off, when they originally began the process, it was assumed the WGFD would have to pay on its own to have the firefighting apparatus installed, which was figured into the total cost. But then they were made aware of a new program under the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in which the DNRC will install all the firefighting apparatus on wildland fire trucks at no cost to the local fire department.
“The state had a program where they would let us send a truck over to Missoula and they will put the flat bed and pump apparatus on it at no cost and lease it to us,” Crisafulli said.
As Crisafulli explained, under the program, the local fire department still owns the truck and the DNRC owns the firefighting apparatus, but installs it at no cost and leases it back to the local department at no cost.
The availability of that program opened up other possibilities. Then in the course of looking for their new truck, Crisafulli said HKT came through with an offer of two 2017 model Dodge trucks at a cost of $35,000 each. Crisafulli then contacted the DNRC to see if they would take two trucks from the same fire department into their program, and they agreed.
“So for $70,000, we’re going to be able to put two 2017 Dodge 5500s into our fleet, and that will replace two of the aging trucks we have,” Crisafulli said.
Of course, before the deal could be done, the WGFD had to convince the commissioners to increase their contribution to the purchase to make up for the additional $20,000 it was going to cost. The commissioners ultimately agreed to contribute $40,000 to the purchase. The WGFD had asked that those funds come out of the county’s rural fire fund, but Kreiman said the commissioners were a little bit concerned about drawing that fund down too much, lest a major wildfire break out. She said the county will find the funds from somewhere else in the budget, possibly from oil and gas tax receipts.
Both of the new trucks will take their place in the WGFD’s primary fleet when they arrive. The two trucks they are replacing will be repurposed. One will be sent out to replace one of the WGFD’s older satellite trucks — wildland firefighting trucks kept by volunteers at various locations around the county. Crisafulli said the other one will have all its firefighting equipment stripped off and turned over to the Weed Department.
“They were needing a new piece of equipment, so we talked to the commissioners and said we could help them with that,” Crisafulli said.
So ultimately, the WGFD is getting two brand new trucks with no cost to purchase or install the required firefighting equipment and the Weed Department is getting a newer truck that they needed, and all at a cost to county taxpayers (not including those in the West Glendive fire district) of $40,000.
“It’s a good deal for the county,” Crisafulli said.
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.