Marlborough Finance Committee backs $786,500 E-One fire engine purchase

MARLBOROUGH -- March 18, 2024, Marlborough Finance Committee unanimously advances $786,500 free cash transfer to buy a new E-One fire engine. The 4-0 vote sends Mayor J. Christian Dumas's request to the full City Council, allowing Fire Chief Kevin Breen to sign a contract for a stock E-One Typhoon-pump engine already in production and due for October or November delivery. Breen said the city's 20-year-old reserve Engine 5 is failing its safety inspection because of frame-rail delamination, and that ordering a custom engine now would mean a 36- to 42-month wait and roughly $100,000 in expected cost escalation on the power plant alone. The base price compares with the roughly $925,000 the department had projected for a comparable Pierce engine. A separate request for approximately $70,000 in NFPA-required tools and equipment will follow. The purchase runs through the Houston-Galveston Area Council cooperative bid, the same vehicle used for the city's ladder truck. "I just want to make sure that we can actually get the truck," Dumas said.