The Editor:
Re: 'Pretty expensive': Burnaby to buy 4 new fire trucks for $9.7M (May 28, 2024)
I used to work in a fire truck factory and I also worked as a fire truck salesman.
I also spent 10 years as a Firefighter/Ambulance Attendant.
I am also a professional truck driver.
Fire departments put a lot of unnecessary options on fire trucks that drive prices through the roof, and many times it is for nothing more than one-up-manship over other fire departments.
You can get a basic pumper truck for $450,000 but so many fire departments want all the bells and whistles and are happy to waste our tax dollars to do it.
Since most of the emergency calls are medical related (60 to 80 per cent), there is no need for bell-and-whistle fire trucks these days.
Fire departments should have basic fire engines and they should have top-of-the-line medic response units, but due to large-ego syndrome, this is not happening.
Same thing as fire chiefs driving $100,000-plus SUVs with $20,000 worth of flashing lights.
City councils and taxpayers need to stop allowing ego-driven fire department purchases and start doing things that make sense.
Electric fire trucks are not practical because you cannot afford the truck to run out of battery power at a critical moment.
Also, electric fire trucks cost three times more than regular fire trucks and with all the problems with our economy, we don't have the right to waste taxpayer dollars to follow a heavily flawed trend.
Just my two cents.
- James Hunter, Surrey
