The Burnaby Fire Department will get four new side-mount fire trucks after council approved a $9.73-million contract Monday.
"Pretty expensive," said Coun. Pietro Calendino at a meeting May 27.
"They're always expensive," replied Mayor Mike Hurley, a former firefighter.
Fire Chief Chris Bowcock told council there has been a "pretty significant increase" for costs in the vehicle market, as well as longer construction times.
The new trucks will replace four existing vehicles, which will be sold on receipt of the replacements, according to a staff report.
While the department generally replaces about one truck per year, Bowcock said there were no replacements due to COVID shutdowns.
"We have this compression," he said. "So what occurred then, within the five years, is the cost jumped up in the plans."
Because of the increasing costs, the fire department decided to purchase four instead of five trucks this year.
The department plans to request the purchase of a fire truck with a ladder and mobile decontamination unit in a later budget cycle, according to the report.
"We are purchasing less vehicles in hopes that some more innovation will come take place, or some market correction in the construction in the future, before we come back for that fifth vehicle down the road."
Green tech in red trucks
Bowcock said the department has been closely watching the electric and hydrogen vehicle markets.
He said while electric technology might not be the right application for fire trucks, pointing to Vancouver's first electric fire truck which was recently sent back for repairs, he's hopeful there will be advances in the hydrogen industry.
"That seems to be a better fit for the service need of the fire department," he said.
Bowcock noted there are already environmentally friendly efforts underway using existing technology.
He said all the new diesel trucks come with battery packs for auxiliary power, allowing the trucks to turn the engine off while idling.
The battery pack saves about 60 per cent of the emissions, as the trucks are idling about 60 per cent of the time, Bowcock said.
The department is also retrofitting its existing vehicles with the battery packs.
