Moses Lake council approves purchase of new fire truck

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Fire Department will soon have not one, not two, but three brand-new fire trucks to add to its fleet, retiring older rigs and significantly improving the department’s ability to respond to emergencies, said Fire Chief Brett Bastion in an interview.

Two previously approved vehicles, a ladder truck and a fire engine, are being built and expected to join the fleet by mid-2021. The Moses Lake City Council voted Tuesday to authorize the city manager to purchase the third, a Rosenbauer Pumper-Tender, which will replace two vehicles with more than four decades of wear and tear between them.

That hybrid vehicle will cost around $780,000, Bastion said, but will hopefully result in lowering insurance costs for both the city and its residents. It could do this by reducing “deficiency points.” Moses Lake is assessed by the Washington Survey and Rating Bureau, which grades cities on things like water supply and the capacity of their fire departments. That score can affect insurance rates for homes, businesses and city property, Bastion added. The scale is 1-10, with a score of one the best and 10 the worst. Moses Lake’s score is five.

“Not every insurance company calculates the same, but speaking generally, our rating is directly tied to what you can expect to pay in your insurance premium,” he said.

The pumper-tender will give the fire department more water supply in areas that aren’t sufficiently serviced by fire hydrant or water tank systems, Bastion said, potentially giving the city a better grade or at least maintaining the one it has. The city’s grade can also be impacted by the age of the fire department’s vehicles, so replacing decades-old rigs with new trucks could also benefit insurance payers.

The pumper-tender combines the water storage capacity of a tender and the pumping capacity of a fire engine, Bastion said, and will replace two vehicles. With the addition of the ladder truck and fire engine and the pumper-tender expected to be delivered in early 2022, the fleet will have undergone radical changes.

“The fleet, once we take delivery of the new trucks, we’re in good shape,” Bastion said. “With the delivery of these vehicles, the fleet will be in better shape than it’s been in a long time.”