New rigs being built for LFR not enough to fix all of aging fleet's issues, fire officials say

Inside the Lincoln Fire and Rescue maintenance garage near the airport last week, Robert Poe spent hours fixing a hydraulic pump inside Truck No. 5. "I've known most of these fire trucks their whole lives," said the 18-year-veteran mechanic who had to crawl inside the 20-year-old ladder truck to do the work. The fix is part of an ongoing effort by Poe, fellow mechanic Trent Heyen and their boss, Logistics Division Chief Kendall Warnock, to keep the city's aging, frail fire fleet in operation. Even when the five new fire rigs the city ordered this year for $2.8 million arrive in 15 months, half of the fleet will be in need of immediate work, city officials say. And with an uncertain replacement schedule, maintenance costs are expected to stay high, according to fire officials. “What we ultimately need is a regular line item in the operating budget, year in and year out, that (puts us) on a smoother path of methodical, planned replacement,” Public Safety Director Tom Casady said last week. That would mean budgeting $650,000 annually for new equipment. Whether money for a new rig will be included in Mayor Chris Beutler's upcoming budget proposal remained unclear last week as the mayor's office was still deliberating public safety spending. Beutler's Chief of Staff Rick Hoppe said the mayor's No. 1 public safety priority is adding public safety personnel to keep pace with the growing community. "With a significant budget deficit looming, it will be challenging to fund additional fire apparatus, particularly with five new rigs arriving next year," Hoppe said. Casady and Warnock said the mayor and City Council members understand the situation and that there's no easy fix considering the city went through several years of budget belt-tightening. "The reality is that the city has been unable to fund that reliably, so replacement has been sporadic, rather than conforming to the plan," said Casady. Pause Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00 Fullscreen 00:00 Mute As a result, fire officials saw maintenance spending soar in recent years, and a 2015 study found LFR had dumped more money into fixing some of the fire trucks than it paid for them in the first place. Maintenance for the fire rigs as well as the ambulances, which continually see a higher call volume, cost $446,740 in 2014 and $509,932 in 2015, Warnock said. The department is expected to spend about the same this year. The city has 17 fire engines, which carry water and hoses, and five ladder trucks, which have aerial ladders and other rescue equipment. Mechanics at the shop need to stay up to date on brakes, tires, hydraulics and suspension among other things to keep the trucks and engines safe, Warnock said. "But with an older apparatus, you get metal fatigue," he said. "The frames, the suspensions, they just can't take it anymore." Casady and Warnock acknowledge Lincoln isn't the only city struggling with this issue. Some cities have closed stations and laid off firefighters to balance their budgets in the past decade, Casady said. "We've actually been comparatively fortunate," the director said. But eventually, ladder trucks like Truck No. 5, which has about 135,000 miles on it, will need relief -- or a big breakdown could cause budget problems, Warnock said. "We haven’t seen a $100,000 spike in maintenance,” he said. "But it’s just a matter of time.”