Controversial Atwater firetruck rolls into town

The controversy on wheels rolled into Atwater late Wednesday.

It was painted red and black to resemble the colors of Atwater’s antique firetrucks. It sat outside the city’s fire station on West Avenue 2, waiting for its grand debut at next week’s Atwater City Council meeting.

Fire officials will put the 109-foot ladder truck on display for an hour before Monday’s meeting.

The highly anticipated firetruck has been a sore subject in Atwater for more than a year. One group criticized using $890,048 from Measure H money – a half-cent sales tax approved by voters for public safety – to pay off the truck over the next 10 years.

Adding fuel to the fire was last month’s announcement that the nearly million-dollar firetruck needs $80,000 in equipment to make it functional.

On the other hand, supporters of the truck say it replaces two aging fire engines, gives firefighters better access to tall buildings and could spur economic growth by attracting multistory businesses. Fire officials can also use the truck to assist with vehicle extractions and medical calls.

Firefighters must receive specialized training before they can operate the truck, officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection confirmed Thursday.

“This just makes our job much easier and gives us better access,” said Cal Fire engineer John Rice. “It’s definitely good to be progressive in this field, and it will benefit the community as a whole.”

The “demo truck” has about 5,500 miles on it, having traveled from San Diego to Clovis and Modesto for trade shows over the past year. However, buying a truck with miles on it saved the city $40,000, fire officials said.

Atwater Mayor Jim Price didn’t hide his opposition to the firetruck purchase before the November election. He wanted to see Measure H money spent on hiring more police officers and putting “boots on the ground.”

But on Thursday, Price said the decision has already been made and it’s time to move forward. “My feelings from the past don’t enter into it,” the mayor said. “It’s a done deal and it’s here. It’s not a battle to be refought.”

While Price said he still feels the truck was a “huge expenditure,” he stressed that it was the previous council’s decision. With two new council members and himself gaining control of the dais, Price said, all they can do now is oversee how much money is spent on outfitting the truck.

Cal Fire leaders last month requested about $80,000 in equipment. The City Council asked for a prioritized list of equipment with individual prices included for each item. That list is ready and will be presented to the City Council on Monday.

Price said he’ll go through the equipment list with a fine-toothed comb.

“What’s left now is to make sure those things they were requesting are going to be absolutely needed to make the truck functional,” Price said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of scrutiny on a lot of different items. But we can’t be making payments on a piece of equipment that’s not in operation – so we’re going to make it work.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Controversial Atwater firetruck rolls into town."