Airport board OKs leasing specialized fire truck from Texas to cope with shortage threatening operations
- Mark Sabbatini
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Six-month agreement will allow time for two new ARFF vehicles to arrive this summer, fire chief says
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
A short-term fix for a shortage of specialized fire trucks at Juneau International Airport, putting operations at risk if no functional trucks were available, was approved by the airport board on Thursday with the leasing of a vehicle for six months until newly purchased trucks are ready for service.
The city-owned airport has one functioning Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) truck, and is borrowing two more from other communities to replace inoperable vehicles. But one borrowed vehicle has to be returned next month and the other isn’t reliable.
That puts airport operations at risk, since it can only handle reduced-sized jets if fewer than three such trucks are available and has to shut down if none are, according to Brandon Bagwell, ARFF chief for Capital City Fire/Rescue. A loss of two of the trucks for a period of days in February meant the airport had to adjust bookings to fit into smaller planes, and had officials fearing any mishap to the final truck would ground all flights.
As of Thursday, Juneau’s airport has its own 2016 truck, a borrowed truck from Gustavus that has to be returned in mid-April and a borrowed truck from Palmer that is being serviced, Bagwell told airport leaders during a board meeting that night.
"I do not have a high degree of confidence that we're going to be able to get (the Palmer truck) back in frontline service continuously due to the age and the severity of the issues that we're having to mitigate at this time," he said.
The airport owns two other ARFF trucks, but one from 2003 is permanently out of service and one from 1992 model has been surplused.
Two new ARFF trucks have been ordered, with one expected to arrive in early July and the other in mid-July — and it will take a few weeks after that until each can be put into service, Bagwell said. As a result, after searching for other trucks the airport could borrow he went to Texas to look at one "in remarkable shape" he wants to lease for six months, even though the new trucks may be functional sooner than that.
"I'm giving myself time for production delays and any break-in period problems that will have to be troubleshot," he said.
Also, the total estimated cost is up to $132,000 for a three-month lease compared to up to $162,000 for six months, Bagwell said.
The airport board unanimously approved a six-month lease for a maximum of $162,000 from the airport’s fund balance that includes a request to the Juneau Assembly for reimbursement from the city’s general fund.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
