Newton County supervisors are weighing their options after receiving an update Thursday from E-199 director Brian Taylor on the condition of county-owned fire trucks.
Previously, Taylor and Decatur fire chief Raymond Overstreet told the board the A-1 Pumper Truck operated by the Decatur Volunteer Fire Department could need rewired, which would cost about $15,000. The board had opted to wait while Overstreet explored other options, however Taylor told the board Thursday that no other options remained.
“They’re going to have to rewire the truck,” he said.
At first, Taylor said, there was a chance a fire-truck technician could replace the truck’s computer, which went out suddenly, without rewiring the truck. After trying three separate computers, however, he said rewiring was the only other way to get the truck back in service.
Additionally, Taylor told the board Newton Fire Department’s 2,000-gallon tanker truck had been leaking, and it was at the point the department was asking the county to step in.
“It’ has several leaks,” he said. “I understand they have to refill it every 24 hours.”
NFD’s tanker truck is one of the oldest trucks in service, Taylor said, and it has been worked on several times. The issue, he said, is the tank is stainless steel, which is difficult to weld. Although it has been patched several times, the patches are not holding.
“You probably need to put a plastic liner in it,” Supervisor Joe Alexander said, adding that would likely require taking the truck to Jackson.
The issue facing the county, Board President Charles Godwin said, is how much the county should be involved in repairing the trucks. Although both trucks are titled to the county, the departments have largely been responsible for maintenance.
Godwin said none of the supervisors wanted to leave the fire departments stranded, but he urged the board to consider whether helping Decatur and Newton could see a shift in policy to where the county was paying for the upkeep of all county fire trucks.
No action was taken on the issue, however the board urged Taylor to work with Decatur and Newton fire departments to find out what insurance would cover, and in the case of Decatur’s truck, see if a second opinion could be obtained to make sure there were no other options than to rewire the truck.
