If you're a veteran fire or EMS provider with years of purchasing rescue vehicles under your belt, you already know that the process takes a great deal of time, research and money. If you're new in the rescue business, or if you've made some mistakes in the past, this article will put you on the right track before your next purchase.
"There are 20,000 different angles to consider when purchasing a vehicle, 10,000 ways to buy it, and probably 100,000 vehicles to buy," says Joe Amigliore, FF/EMT-P, hazardous materials technician for Marian County Fire Rescue in Ocala, FL. "It's not a 1-day process, where someone says, 'Let's go buy a truck.' When you buy a personal vehicle, you look at colors and features, and you pretty much know what you want. But now you're talking a whole different ballgame."
One of the first things, says David E. Miller, president of Miller Consultants, Aquebogue, NY, is to decide what you want to accomplish with the vehicle. What type of service do you want to provide? Fire/rescue? EMS? What is the geography of your area? The type of unit you buy, says Miller, should be based on all of those things.
"Once you've identified the uses for the vehicle, the objectives become a bit easier," agrees Randy Mirowski, battalion chief in charge of the Training Division for Poudre Fire Authority in Ft. Collins, CO. "At that point, you can look at the technical aspects like whether you need a vehicle with 4-wheel-drive to access hard-to-reach areas. In terms of rescue, identify your goals: Are you providing extrication services? Do you do low-angle, high-angle or heavy rescue? Do you want more than just the ability to carry a Hurst tool? If you're doing heavy rescue, you'll need tools for cutting and shoring, which means extra compartment space. Do you need ladders? How many? Do you need to carry a full complement or just a couple of basic ladders?"
Most departments either don't know what they want, or they check out a neighboring department to see what they have and buy something similar, says Dale Leich, sales manager for Madison, AL-based vehicle manufacturer Excellance, Inc.
"The biggest problem we find is that many folks get hung up on the chassis or body size without regard for what they plan to do with the vehicle," he says. "We tell them they should first decide what functions that vehicle is going to perform and what equipment they expect to carry, both now and in the future. A lot of departments buy a small truck, then their department or their community expands, and this truck that they spent a good deal of money on just a few years ago is overgrown, overweight or obsolete."
Once the vehicle's purpose has been decided, the next most important consideration, says Miller, may be the type of chassis and how much use it will have to endure.
"The number of runs per year is very important, as are street or road conditions," he says. "In a place like New York City, where street conditions vary and rigs do a lot of runs per year, you need a heavy-duty chassis that will hold up for years. As an example, a commercial chassis has many different uses, such as a box truck that carries a variety of goods, or a small-load dump truck that might carry sand--trucks that are eventually unloaded so their components have a chance to breathe and relax while that weight is off. Emergency vehicles have a constant imposed load on them, so the components like the frame and axle have to be able to handle that constant weight. As far as I'm concerned, the chassis is the meat and potatoes of the truck."
Engine power is also important, says Mirowski. "One key thing is knowing what you want in a drive train, and some of that will be determined by the size of the vehicle," he says. "If you're running a smaller size rescue unit, you obviously don't need a Series 60 Detroit diesel engine; you may be able to get by with a small Cummins. But the worst thing you can do, especially if you live in a mountain community, is buy an underpowered vehicle."
"So many rescue services today want a particular chassis, or they're dead set on a certain wheel base, and we're pretty much limited by the chassis manufacturers in terms of payload, gross vehicle weight and options," says Leich. "What happens is, people want to load 10 lbs. of stuff in an 8-lb. sack, and there are engineering limitations."
Problems also arise when egos get involved, Leich adds. "Just because the neighboring town has a commercial 2-door chassis, this service wants a commercial 4-door chassis, and the next one wants a custom chassis or a custom walk-through, and the price goes through the roof," he says. "We've seen rescue trucks sitting in fire stations with $10,000 hand-painted, gold-leaf murals painted on their sides and little equipment in the compartments because the rescue service can't afford it. It seems that either they have very misplaced values or they're totally without financial accountability."
Vehicle purchase involves long-term planning, adds Mirowski, particularly in terms of compartment space and what equipment you might need in the future.
"Don't spec your new vehicle so it rolls out with completely maxed-out compartment space the day you put it into service," he cautions. "If you do, you're being very short-sighted. As sure as anything, changes will be made and you'll be asked to add things to that vehicle over a 15-year period, so you have to allow extra space."
Stating the obvious, measure the tools you carry to make sure they'll fit in your new vehicle, says Amigliore.
"If your Amkus power unit doesn't fit in the power-unit compartment because nobody thought to measure it beforehand, you've just wasted thousands of dollars on a useless truck," he says.
"I don't know much about purchasing, but for specifying the vehicle, it's vitally important to involve its users," he says. "Departments make a huge mistake when they have mid-level managers or chief executive officers make purchasing and specification decisions on their own without input from the troops who will be using it. I understand it with large, inner-city departments that might buy 40 vehicles at a time, because they go with a basic, standard vehicle. But the department that only occasionally buys a vehicle, which is specific to their needs, would be better off putting together a focus group or ad hoc committee to work on the specifications and get the users represented. The last thing you want is a vehicle that's not functional or what your people need."
Purchasing committees, however, frequently make the mistake of focusing on a single operation that requires incorporating special, but seldom-used features on the vehicle, says Leich.
"Making a hazmat operation that might occur once in 5 years their single focus can result in adding expensive, unusual features or preclude adding features that are used every day," he says. "Then, they come back later to say they wish they hadn't done it or it was a waste of money. It's best if a department tells the manufacturer, 'Here's what we plan to do with the truck. Here's the equipment we plan to carry. How do you recommend we put this together?'"
Because the purchasing department's primary focus is on money, they may tend to overlook how the vehicle functions, adds Amigliore, so users bring balance to the procedure.
"Line firefighters have to understand that their budget is not a bottomless pit, the fire chief has to understand both budget and the line firefighters' point of view, and the budget department has to understand all three," he says. "Firefighters want the biggest thing on four wheels, with a million horsepower engine and more lights than anybody has ever seen; the chief looks at function and all of the different applications; and the budget department asks, 'Do we really need something that big right now?' That's why everyone needs to be involved."
Vehicle manufacturers like to be involved, as well, says Jim Philips, sales fleet manager for Orlando, FL-based Wheeled Coach Industries.
"We generally prefer that our role begins on a consultative basis well before bids are published," he says. "That allows us to assist customers by bringing them up to date on the newest technologies, both in the products we manufacture and the components, or subassemblies, like lights and sirens. Departments frequently just pull last year's or the last unit's specifications off the shelf, which may have been there for a few years since their last purchase. In the consultative phase, we bring them up to date on what's new so they can incorporate it into their specifications. We, and other manufacturers, can also provide engineering or concept drawings to customers so they can get a visual representation of what the vehicle will look like, and they can utilize that to support their bid package."
A good source of current technology is trade shows, says Miller, who is a proponent of generic specification.
"When a purchasing group is doing its survey, as far as what they need and why they need it, they need to research what's available, and that's best accomplished by going to trade shows where apparatus manufacturers have displays," he says. "So learning what's available and getting representative across-the-board pricing is very helpful, but writing a generic specification gets the purchaser the biggest bang for the buck. It also creates competition, which keeps everybody honest."
First-time buyers might do well to seek experienced help, Miller adds.
"That's why people like me are in business, consulting with municipalities, rescue companies and fire chiefs on spec writing. It's not a simple task."
"Rescue vehicles are more involved than ambulances, because the ambulance market has standard design configurations," Philips says, "but rescue design depends on location, staffing and even department scope of mission. For instance, a fire service rescue may need fire-suppression capability; police and sheriffs' departments have their own requirements; and an independent rescue squad that does rescue and EMS but no fire-related activities has different needs altogether.
"Most dedicated rescue trucks are custom, in the sense that they are not off-the-shelf models," he adds. "The equipment that goes on the vehicles can range from generators and hydraulic pumps to power rescue tools and air compressors. Some carry scene-support equipment, like telescoping lights, and others carry winches. In a district where they do high-angle or mountain-style rescue, that unit would give priority to that type of equipment; a typical inner-city unit might carry items for automobile accidents and elevator rescue, which would be more prominent. Most people like to design their compartment layout around both the equipment they currently use and the frequency with which they use it."
Excellance also uses commercial chassis, which are more heavy-duty than they once were, says Leich. In addition, most commercial companies are becoming more responsive to the fire/EMS industry by offering vocation-based options up front, rather than requiring a lot of after-market modifications.
Depending on local politics, some manufacturers will purchase the chassis for their customers, Leich adds.
"Some states have blanket contracts with vendors on a state-bid basis, and government agencies are sometimes required to buy off that contract if it's available," he says. "One problem is that certain commercial chassis are available only with limited options that don't address all needs of a rescue service. Another problem is that the selected vendor doesn't have any input on the chassis, so the chassis you buy locally may not fit or be practical for the body you're getting from the manufacturer. We don't mind ordering the chassis for a customer, but, if the customer feels he has to buy the chassis through a local vendor or a state contract, we like to see the order sheet before the truck is ordered so we can give it a once-over. Many rescue services' committee people buy a truck once in a lifetime, and most of them aren't truck experts--they're experts in rescue. We've had situations where they end up with no air conditioning, wrong wheelbase, wrong engine or wrong paint, and it costs them a fortune."
Marian County uses the bidding process and provides desired specifications, says Amigliore.
"You can put anything you want in a spec," he says, "then the dealers bid on it, and the lowest price usually wins. Sometimes you bid separately on the truck and box, but some manufacturers bid on the entire process, including purchase and refurbishing of the vehicle, right to the point where it gets delivered to your station."
Mirowski prefers an RFP--request for proposal--over bidding.
"The RFP includes your overall goals and basic objectives, but doesn't get down to specifics," he explains. "You lay out what you're looking for and ask the manufacturers to give you a proposal based on that. Then you can start looking at specifics. Some manufacturers won't be able to meet your needs, and there's no point in messing around with someone who can't, or won't, meet your specifications."
"On a custom-built, one-of-a-kind truck, it's much better, if state laws allow, to put out a request for proposal," says Leich, "because then you can list your desired standard, and it allows manufacturers to offer alternatives and to negotiate. You don't necessarily pick the lowest vendor; you take one that has the best technical proposal or that best meets your needs. In some states, if you list something out as a request for sealed bid, you can't make one change to the vehicle after you award the contract or you break the law."
Once you reach the bid stage, it isn't necessary to send out bids to every existing manufacturer, says Leich, but it's important to prequalify vendors in a pre-bid meeting to see if they can meet certain requirements or have suggestions that might make the vehicle better.
"If you're considering a certain manufacturer, get references," he advises. "If there's a vehicle in the area that was built by them, go see it, or make a site inspection of the manufacturing facility. Many folks wait until just before they award the bid to make a site inspection. By then, they've already invested a lot of time and effort and the politicians have gotten involved, and it's hard to then go back to the other vendors and say, 'We did a site visit and found some things we didn't like, and now we want to start over.
"Most manufacturers want your business, especially for a large rescue vehicle, and they want you to come to their factory to see their other vehicles and how they're built," Leich continues. "Always make sure they have the capability and experience to do what you want done."
It's OK to ask the manufacturer for a set of diagrams, says Leich, although some are a bit leery about giving out a whole set of instructions and drawings too early in the process.
"Many times that means they're doing free engineering for someone else," he says. "They take our designs, put it out to bid, and someone who has no engineering department says, 'Yeah, I think I can do that for $50,000 less. Thanks for figuring out how to do it for me.' But what he does for that lower price isn't necessarily what you wanted."
Going with the lowest bidder can be unwise, Mirowski adds.
"The bottom line is, you have to look at more than pricing," he says. "Pricing is important, but you also have to consider customer service. How long has the company been in business? What is the likelihood that this company will remain in business long enough to honor its contract and commitment to you? We're seeing a lot of mergers in this business, where small companies are being bought out by larger ones. In and of itself, that may not be a bad thing, but if Company X, which committed to excellent customer service, gets bought by Company Y, do you have a guarantee that the customer service will continue? We've had situations where two competitors looked good, but our final decision was based on the longevity of one over the other. If you're going to buy, it's good to buy from a manufacturer who has built rescue vehicles before. Otherwise, you won't have any idea about their workmanship and whether the vehicle will hold together."
Buying a vehicle is a complex operation, confirms David Miller.
"Another aspect that is extremely important is what we term the 'boilerplate,' or legal jargon that precedes the technical portion of the specification," he says. "The boilerplate sets the parameters or guidelines for the bidder (manufacturer) as to what the end-user or purchaser is expecting. This document includes areas like bid bonds, performance bonds, delivery schedules, penalty clauses for late delivery and inspection trips, to name a few. The boilerplate that I've developed encompasses approximately 25 pages, single-spaced."
"Vehicle life varies considerably," says Mirowski. "In the fire service, we look at an average of about 20 years' service life--15 years on-line and 5 years in reserve. Today's custom fire apparatus cost about $300,000, so with that kind of investment, you need to get 20 years out of it."
"In a rural area, the number of runs is lower, so a rescue service can use a commercial chassis, and the rig will be in service for a minimum 15-20 years," says Miller. "That truck isn't taking the abuse that a municipality puts on a piece of apparatus."
Joe Amigliore has a different view.
"Actually, city rescues last longer because the mileage isn't as great," he asserts. "A city truck's average response time is 2-4 minutes and a maximum of 4-5 miles, where in a rural area, your response time may be 15 or more minutes and cover 15-20 miles. We average 10 to 12 calls per shift, so that's 10 or 12 times that truck is started up and driven a minimum of 5 miles, so we put 150,000 to 200,000 miles on a truck, as well as idling time on scene and the work of the alternator to provide external and emergency lighting. It's important to look at adaptability of the truck. Five years down the road, when that truck has 150,000 miles on the engine and there's nothing wrong with the body, you can take off the body and put it on a new chassis for $30,000, which is what we did.
"We're pretty innovative with our old rescue units," Amigliore continues. "We converted one front-line rescue to reserve rescue, and now it's a technical rescue truck. We also have a 4-wheel-drive rescue, which had been used out in the forest where we needed the 4-wheel-drive and a winch on front, and it's now being used to pull our hazardous materials response trailer. We didn't need something brand new because it isn't used that much, so, instead of paying $50,000 for a new pickup, we spent $15,000 to rebuild one of the old trucks that works just as good."
There is a parameter already in place that is somewhat of a guideline for replacing a vehicle, says Miller.
"Simply put, the federal government states that vehicle parts must be available for 15 years," he says. "I'm talking about the chassis. The value drops drastically after a truck is 15 years old, and it becomes more difficult if you can't get parts for it."
"If a department plans to buy vehicles now and then, rather than just once every 20 years, it might be in their best interest to try to enter into a long-term agreement with the manufacturer," advises Mirowski. "That way, you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you make a purchase. If you have a standard apparatus design that works for you and you're happy with the people you've selected, it makes a lot more sense to enter into a 5-year agreement with the company to be the provider of your vehicles. I don't mean an agreement that's legally binding and will hold both parties at bay, but one stating that the two of you will work together."
"When I was a kid, my dad was a fireman, and his department used to do 'boot drives,'" says Amigliore. "If they wanted to buy a new truck, they put a tarp on the sidewalk beside the old truck, and people would throw change in the tarp. Or, they'd stand on street corners holding their boots and signs that said, 'We're trying to buy a new truck,' and people put money in the boots."
Although that method may or may not still be effective, it's important to get the public involved, Amigliore adds.
"Let them know what you need and why you need it," he says. "The worst scenario is having an incident where you need a certain piece of equipment and having to explain to the public and the city officials why you don't have it."
One new source of funding in Marian County, according to Amigliore, is that certain responses are now billable.
"If we respond to a hazardous materials incident, the caller's insurance company gets billed--a certain percentage for use of the truck, the equipment, personnel and time on scene," he says. "For illegal burns, which is a waste of time and equipment, we now charge $100 after the second call to the same party. If they refuse to pay it, the county puts a lien on their property.
"The whole thing with buying a truck is finding the money," Amigliore adds, "but you can usually come up with different types of financial responses from the community or large industry. It's really a political game--where to get the money and how to get it. We just bought a new ladder truck for $560,000 after waiting for 10 years to afford it."
For companies that might have difficulty raising funds, some vehicle manufacturers offer lease-purchase programs, says Amigliore, and high-run departments might want to consider lease purchase, where they buy a vehicle and, after a specified time, turn it in for a newer model.
Mirowski, however, is a bit skeptical of leasing programs.
"For some, it may be the only option if they don't have the funding streams identified, but I don't know that leasing is necessarily in a department's best interest," he says. "If you're going to get 20 years of service out of a vehicle, the likelihood is there's not much marketability left in it, but with leasing, you end up paying a lot more for the vehicle than it's actually worth, and that's a questionable practice for the taxpayers' dollars. If you're going to be a good steward of the taxpayers' money, it's hard to envision leasing a vehicle and having it come out in your favor.
"Vehicle purchase is considered a capital expenditure for most departments," Mirowski adds. "A lot of departments are funded through sales tax or special assessments through a fire district. However they're funded, part of their budget needs to be set aside in capital monies and they need to identify the need for rescue vehicles. If a department is heads-up, they'll be looking at their vehicle purchase on a replacement-as-needed basis and not wait until it falls apart. If your department is large enough, you might purchase one vehicle a year on a rotational basis. That's the best way I know."
With a great deal of care and a little innovation, the vehicle you buy can serve you for many years and in many capacities, says Jim Philips.
"If a department outgrows a vehicle after a number of years, they generally divide its function," he says. "The equipment they can no longer carry on that truck, they put on an engine, a smaller rescue, or even a support vehicle like a Suburban. For light-duty rescue, they might even come down to a squad rescue vehicle to carry the equipment they need regularly and use another truck for heavy-rescue equipment that isn't used as often."
According to Amigliore, one of his department's new vehicles replaced a Trident truck, which is a combination transport ambulance that carries a small pump, 10 gallons of foam, a 200-gallon tank, and three firefighters.
"We run it as an ALS rescue and also as an initial response for structural fires and motor-vehicle accidents," he says. "They have extrication equipment on board, as well as water, so they can make a quick initial attack or do search-and rescue. It's like a mini-fire truck that they can transport patients on. We got into a joint program with the hospital here, and they provided us with certain funds, which we matched, and it allowed us to hire additional paramedic firefighters to man the trucks."
It all comes down to what you need, not necessarily what you want, says Amigliore.
"Everybody, including the chief, wants the gigantic, heavy-rescue, 6-man closed cab with a command center in it and a side that pops out like a motorhome so you could live in it for a week if you had to, but at $500,000, that's not acceptable," he says.
"NFPA standards are probably the best guidance for customers today," advises Leich, "whether you're a fire service, rural rescue team or EMS station with a rescue or special response vehicle. Ambulance standards hold no weight with a rescue vehicle, and no other standards typically apply. NFPA standards are performance-based; they don't tell you how thick something has to be or how it has to be built. They tell you how it has to perform and how safe it has to be. I would recommend that before you buy your next rescue truck, you get a copy of the NFPA standards--that will give you a good start."
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) can be reached at 617/770-3000 or at their web site: www.nfpa.org.
| Marie Nordberg is associate editor of Advanced Rescue Technology Magazine. |