Moorefield fire station set to buy $950,000 truck next year

MAPLETON – The Moorefield fire station is set to receive a new fire truck, though it isn’t expected to arrive in the township until at least late next year. 

Mapleton council pre-approved the purchase, to be included in the 2027 capital budget, during an April 28 meeting. 

The truck will be paid for with the township’s fire services infrastructure reserve fund, which is expected to have a balance of about $1.6 million at the end of this year. 

After the truck’s purchase, the forecasted balance would be $674,214.

The pre-approval means fire officials can put word out about the new procurement and start negotiating with companies, said fire chief Chris Harrow. 

Once a specific truck has been selected for purchase, a new report would come to council for approval. 

Fire officials anticipate the truck to arrive in late 2027 or 2028. 

It’s the first of four or five trucks set to be purchased in Mapleton, Minto and Wellington North over the next four to five years, including a new aerial truck that is expected to cost about $3 million – most of which would be covered by the Town of Minto, though all three municipalities would use the truck. 

“All seven stations put together a truck plan that looks at the three departments as a whole, not individual departments,” said Harrow.

Fire officials are hopeful that combining the purchases will lead to cost savings, and are also considering combining purchases with other fire departments such as the one in Puslinch.  

According to a report presented by Harrow, the Moorefield fire station has two of the oldest trucks in the three municipalities. The new truck would replace its rescue truck, Harrow said. 

Both Moorefield trucks have “outlived their 20-year useful life,” the report states. 

As Moorefield does not have fire hydrants, the pumper/tanker truck purchased will have significant water carrying capacity, as well as space to carry at least four firefighters and most of the vital equipment, including extraction equipment. 

It can take upwards of three years for a fire truck to be delivered once purchased, and the price of fire trucks has “skyrocketed over the past five years, in some cases doubling in costs,” which has made planning the purchase difficult, Harrow states in the report. 

“Many previous long-term truck plans have had to be scrapped because they have become unaffordable,” the report continues, which is “why the fire management team has taken an in-depth, comprehensive look at how fleet can be maintained and upgraded in a sustainable manner.”