Press Release: Fire Engine Replacement Vote 11/8/22

26 years, and hundreds of emergency calls later Dudley Fire Department Chief Dean Kochanowski has reached out to the voting public for a yes vote on Question 5 to replace Engine 3.

Residents will find Question 5 on the Tuesday, Nov. 8, ballot.

State elections will be held at Dudley Town Hall, 71 West Main St., from 7 a.m., to 8 p.m. Voter registration is now closed. A sample ballot can be found on the town’s website.

Kochanowski said he considers the question a, “request for mutual aid from citizens.”

A yes vote will enable the Dudley Fire Department to purchase a replacement for Engine 3, a rescue/pumper truck, which was originally brought into the fleet in 1996. 

The cost of a new rescue vehicle/engine would be $775,000

Kochanowski said Engine 3, “is very tired. And has served the town well, much of the time as a front-line apparatus.”

“But we feel it needs to be retired. Most apparatus manufacturers estimate an engine’s longevity for a town the size of Dudley and the activity it endures, should last between 20-25 years,” Kochanowski said.

Engine 3 currently features a 1,000-gallon per minute pump, and 1,000-gallon water tank.

This combined with a full complement of hose, nozzles, the jaws-of-life, stabilization struts, ropes and appliances used to move water from either a hydrant, or a body of water.

How will this affect taxpayer’s wallet?

If approved Question 5 will be paid through a Proposition 2 ½ Debt Exclusion.”

Most the town’s debt exclusions for vehicles are paid off in around three years.  After the exclusion is paid off, the debt exclusion is closed, and drops the tax from a resident’s annual bill.

The $775,000 would cost $0.21/$1,000, or $63.73 per year. This breaks down to $15.93 per quarterly bill.

What services does Engine 3 provide?

The engine also acts as a rescue truck, providing recover and relief services to motor vehicle crashes, high-angle rope rescue, removing people from machinery, water rescue, and air bag/lifting operations.

“[The] truck is quite overloaded,” Kochanowski said. “The equipment is just piled in the compartments. There is no way to secure all the equipment in the compartments. And the compartment doors are beaten and don’t always secure properly. Some firefighters have been injured by falling equipment after opening compartment doors when arriving on the scene of an incident.”

Keeping department finances and safety in mind 

During his tenure, Kochanowski said he has worked to trim down the department’s fleet, to save taxpayers money in both maintenance and equipment costs.

Two military surplus brush trucks have been retired and was replaced with one truck funded through a grant. Engine 4 was retired and not replaced. 

In 2021 Kochanowski was able to replace Engine 2 for approximately $50,000, which was consider at the time to be a “stop-gap” measure. 

According to Kochanowski, this engine should last the town seven to 10 years.

                                                                           ###