The custom-built fire truck the town bought last year has had numerous problems, and spent a lot of time in the repair shop. It was photographed after delivery last January. —Macklin Reid photo
“Is it a lemon?” Selectwoman Maureen Kozlark asked. “We don’t want to get stuck with a $500,000 lemon.”
Engine One, the new high-tech, custom-designed $575,000 pumper truck that the Fire Department proudly unveiled after delivery last winter, has had a rough start.
Plagued by a series of mechanical malfunctions and glitches, Engine One has been out of service 130 days since it went on the job, fire Chief Heather Burford told the selectmen recently.
“We were out of service 130 days in the first year?” Selectman Andy Bodner asked.
“Closer to nine months,” Chief Burford said.
Though it was delivered last January, there was a training period before the new fire truck went into service.
“We were out of service 130 days out of 270 days?” Mr. Bodner said.
The engine is back on the road and the hope is that its problems are behind it.
“The truck is running, and right now it’s running fine,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said.
Chief Burford and Assistant Chief Kevin Tappe told the selectmen, meeting Dec. 4 as the town Fire Commission, that the company that produced the fire engine, Florida-based E-One, had been cooperative.
The company had extended the first-year warranty on most of the truck’s systems until mid-May, in recognition of the time the truck was out of service.
“We just feel we haven’t had the piece long enough to determine whether all the bugs have been worked out,” Chief Burford said.
The troubled truck isn’t the department’s only fire engine. It has 11 major pieces of equipment, four pumpers — including the one the new engine replaced — two tankers, a ladder truck, a heavy rescue vehicle, and three ambulances.
“Fortunately, we had the old Engine One, so our operations have been pretty much seamless,” Chief Burford told the selectmen.
The new truck wasn’t a stock model fire truck but was custom-built to specifications from the Ridgefield Fire Department.
“It’s a complex piece,” Chief Burford said.
In addition to wanting certain equipment and that sort of thing, the engine was designed to accommodate the Catoonah Street firehouse’s relatively low bay door height, for instance.
The department also sought a smaller turning radius than many fire trucks have, because of the town’s windy roads and the need to turn around and get out of the cul-de-sacs that are characteristic of so many of the town’s housing developments.
“It’s not unusual for a community to spec out the truck they want,” Mr. Marconi told the board.
Designing a custom truck is a collaborative process with the manufacturer, and part of the company’s role is to make sure the truck can be built to work reliably.
“When we do spec something out, their engineers look at the drawings,” said Assistant Chief Tappe, who was part of the five-member department committee that oversaw the truck purchase.
The most persistently recurring problem had to do with the new truck’s steering system.
“As we were making a hard left or a hard right turn, there was a stutter or a chatter,” Chief Burford said.
It was eventually found that, due to the large size of the truck’s wheels and tires, the steering fluid pumping system needed to be upgraded.
“What’s the second biggest problem?” Selectman Bodner asked.
There were electronic glitches.
“We’d get two or three warning lights on the dashboard, telling us there’s something wrong — and there’s nothing wrong,” Assistant Chief Tappe said.
The manufacturer, E-One, eventually diagnosed the problems and took care of them.
“We feel as though we’ve had good customer service from them,” Chief Burford said.
Still, there was all that downtime.
The Fire Department’s schedule calls for replacing another fire truck in the 2013-14 budget year.
“Would we go back to the same company?” Ms. Kozlark asked.
“That’s a legitimate question,” Assistant Chief Tappe said.
Mr. Marconi said the town’s previous purchase from E-One had been very satisfactory.
“That truck ran and still runs, and has been a wonderful truck,” Mr. Marconi said.
Another question remains: What if the engine continues to be plagued with problems?
Although the department officially “accepted” the fire engine, Town Attorney Dave Grogins has said the town has some potential legal remedies, if the problems continue.
“We’ve spoken with the attorney,” Chief Burford said. “There are options for us in the consumer laws.”
This may be one of the reasons the company agreed to extend the warranty.
“They’re well aware we’re watching everything,” Mr. Marconi said, “and prepared to go legal.”