New Holton fire engine to be delivered soon

More than four years after the need for a new “first-out” fire engine for the Holton Fire Department was identified — and almost two years after the city was awarded a Kansas Department of Commerce grant for the purchase of a new fire engine — the City of Holton will likely have that new fire engine on hand by the end of January, the Holton City Commission learned during its regular meeting on Monday.

Holton City Manager Teresa Riley said the city received word earlier that day that Rosenbauer Motors of Wyoming, Minn., which is building the fire engine on behalf of Hays Fire and Rescue Sales and Service of Hays, is wrapping up construction of the fire engine, and Holton Fire Department personnel will be heading that way in early January to inspect and approve it.

“As long as everything meets approval and has passed, the company will drive the truck down here right after that,” said Riley, who noted that the fire department will hold “a putting-in-service ceremony” for the new fire engine in mid-to-late January.

Commissioners were approached by then-fire chief Kevin Ingels in July of 2019 about the need to purchase a new “first-out” truck to replace its current “first-out” engine with a 65-foot aerial ladder in service since 1999, since the National Fire Protection Association recommends that once fire engines reach 20 years of service, they should be replaced, and once they reach 25 years, they should be retired.

Furthermore, it was reported, NFPA also governs fire insurance rates for homeowners, and waiting to replace the fire engine could also have an adverse affect on those rates. But with the purchase of a new fire engine, it was reported, it is likely that those rates will come down.

Utilizing a $455,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the Kansas Department of Commerce awarded to the city in February of 2021, along with funds saved up in the city’s equipment reserve and capital improvement funds, the commission in November of 2021 approved the $970,595 purchase of a new fire engine with a 109-foot aerial ladder from Hays Fire and Rescue Sales and Service.

At that time, commissioners noted that Hays Fire had given an estimate of 425 days to custom-build and deliver the new fire engine, meaning it would be delivered to the city in January of 2023. That expected delivery date was pushed back a few times due to supply chain issues, Riley noted.

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