Riverside is getting a nearly new firetruck — at a fraction of the cost of a factory-fresh one.
At its April 18 meeting, the Riverside village board approved the refurbishment of one of the village’s firetrucks, a move that will allow the village to use the truck for another decade while saving at least $700,000 compared to buying a new truck.
At the meeting, Director of Public Safety Matt Buckley said the truck is what’s known to firefighters as a “quint,” meaning it has five key capabilities to put out fires.
“It’s got the main ladder. It’s got pumping capability and a water tank with over 500-gallon tank capacity. It’s got [a] firefighting hose, and it’s got ground ladders,” he said. “It has all the essential things we utilize for firefighting, but the biggest part and the most important part is that 100-foot ladder that’s on top of that vehicle.”
The truck, which was manufactured in 2001, is due to be refurbished or retired because of its age. Buckley said most firetrucks last 20-30 years; however, the truck’s refurbishment had originally been planned for next year, he said.
“A few months ago, I was in front of the board talking about this very item. My hope was that I was going to have a year to plan this and put this on our 2025 [capital improvement plan],” Buckley said at the meeting. “Unfortunately, this vehicle was involved in an accident at our Station #2 and as a result had to be brought to the manufacturer.”
The office of the manufacturer, Seagrave, is located in Clintonville, Wisconsin, more than 200 miles north of Riverside. Because the firetruck is already there, Buckley said the manufacturers were able to inspect the vehicle and identify it as “an excellent candidate for a refurbishment.”
The refurbishment will run the village about $383,000, although trustees approved allocating $400,000 for contingencies.
In comparison, Buckley said that the purchase of a new firetruck from Seagrave, which is included in the village’s planned budget for 2027, would cost about $1.75 million today. A new firetruck from another manufacturer would run between $1.1 million and $2 million, he said. While Riverside did not explicitly budget for the truck’s refurbishment in 2024, Buckley said Finance Director Yvette Zavala had confirmed the village would be able to afford it.
“I think it’s very prudent of us to look at this refurbishment where we’re going to get about another 10-15 years of service life out of this vehicle,” he said.
During refurbishment, the manufacturers will “go through the entire vehicle and, basically — I don’t want to say make it new, but they make it almost new again,” Buckley said. “The only thing that’s probably going to stay on there that isn’t going to get touched are the tires.”
According to a village memo, the firetruck’s refurbishment was brought before the village board for trustees to discuss whether the village should pursue it, with the option of taking action at the board’s discretion. Only one board member spoke up before the board unanimously approved a resolution to have the truck refurbished this year.
“This is a no-brainer,” Trustee Jill Mateo said.
