Sam Salemme, deputy chief of the Jamestown Fire Department; Mayor Sam Teresi; and Harry Snellings, chief of the Jamestown Police Department and city public safety director, were present Wednesday at Station 1 to discuss bid specifications for new twin fire engines. Bids for the trucks went out Saturday and would eventually help the city replace engines currently in use (Engine 3 and Engine 4) that are both about 20 years old.

“We’re really excited about what we’ve done with these new trucks,” Salemme said of the specifications. “It’s going to be a safe and reliable piece of equipment for our firefighters to use for the next 20 to 30 years.”

The future purchases, which will require approval by the Jamestown City Council and includes the refurbishment of the department’s 2008 ladder truck, are part of the mayor’s Smart City Investment Program, with $1.2 million earmarked for fire department equipment.

Asked how often the city has replaced its fleet of fire trucks, Teresi responded, “Not often enough.”

Deputy fire Chief Samuel Salemme is pictured Wednesday on the back of Engine 3 at Station 1. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

“It’s necessary, obviously,” Teresi told reporters. “Safety for the community, safety for our workers and then also by doing things more efficiently and having better worker safety, ultimately it saves money for the taxpayers.”

Among the specifications the department has requested are:

¯ a “Clean cab concept” that Salemme said will help reduce possible contamination and make cleaning the trucks easier;

¯ removable seat covers that have encapsulated barriers to reduce gas and liquid absorption;

¯ lower crosslays for loading and deploying hoses. “That’s huge for our members to do. You can just grab the hose and go,” Salemme said;

¯ ladders that can be stored inside the engines and out of the weather;

¯ smaller tanks to hold water (from 750 gallons on the current trucks to 500 gallons) in addition to a higher pumping capacity (from 1,500 gallons per minute to 2,000 gallons per minute.

A committee, which included city firefighters, designed the specifications based on a variety of factors, including firefighting efficiency and safety.

“It’s been a very positive response. They’re really excited about it,” Salemme said of the reaction from current firefighters. “We have some union members on the committee that helped design and build these trucks. We got their input as well, so they’re excited about possibly getting some new equipment.”

Bids for the trucks are due by Dec. 12. Once approved and a contract is signed, Salemme said it could take up to 400 days to receive the trucks due to construction and delivery, meaning around the spring of 2021.

Once the new trucks are received, Engine 3 and Engine 4 would be put on reserve, with current reserve trucks (Engine 1 and Engine 2) slated to be sold or scrapped.

The ladder truck is scheduled to be out of service for five to six months for a complete refurbishment once bids for that project are sent out and eventually approved. The department’s reserve ladder truck will be put into regular service during the refurbishment.

“It’s going to be quite a project on that,” Salemme said.