Firefighting is expensive, but investment pays dividends

Trucks that cost $600,000 to $1.25 million. Heavy duty washing machines that cost $6,000. And self-contained breathing units that cost between $6,000 and $8,000 apiece.

Municipal firefighting is an expensive proposition, the Columbia Falls city council learned recently as city manager Susan Nicosia and fire chief Karl Weeks gave insight into future capital expenses over the next 20 years or so.

One of the bigger ticket items is to replace one of the department’s aging fire engines. The department is considering replacing its aging rescue truck and a pumper with one engine that can do both tasks.

The projected cost is about $600,000 total, with a wait time of about two years. The city and the rural fire department, if they agree on the purchase, would share in the cost.

The city’s ladder truck will also eventually need replacement in the coming years. The city bought a used one for about $132,000 in 2019. A new one, however, costs $1.25 million.

They probably wouldn’t replace it with a new one, but it does illustrate the ever increasing costs of equipment.

The department has four paid firefighters including Weeks and about 30 volunteers.

The cost of outfitting one firefighter with all the gear to go safely into a house and fight a fire is about $20,000.

Gear isn’t the only expense. Radios are becoming very expensive as well. The radios the department currently uses are from 2009 and are showing their age.

To replace all of them? About $164,000.

Fortunately the city does have more financial resources than in years past, where the budget for decades annually was about $18,000 and if the firefighters needed a piece of equipment they went to the public and did a fundraiser.

The city’s 3% resort tax had paid for more firefighters and will help buy equipment into the future, but that doesn’t mean the city can just go out and buy whatever it needs whenever it wants.

Fifty-five percent of the resort tax, which was about $1.5 million last year and is expected to be about the same this year, is slated for public safety, including firefighting and police.

Mayor Don Barnhart suggested that if there is additional revenue, it might be better to hire another firefighter.

“We have to be looking at funding more manpower,” he said.

Having the paid staff is greatly improving service. A house fire on Fourth Avenue East last winter saw a a response time of just 4 minutes, while the home was heavily damaged, the fire was contained to just the structure. A few more minutes it could have easily spread to the neighbor’s home just five feet away.

The paid staff has also resulted in better training of volunteers, better maintenance of hydrants and the facilities themselves.

They’ve also been very busy with calls, Weeks noted. Last year at this time the department responded to 220 calls to date. This year they’ve gone to 288.

That’s an increase of 31%.