New Fire Engine

Steve Marler, San Juan Island Fire Rescue Chief, receives New Fire Engine – Sheila Harley photo

Steve Marler receives the first of six new fire engines from General Fire Apparatus on Friday morning, September 12, 2014.

The engines were built in Lyons, South Dakota by the Rosenbauer Corporation and sold through General Fire Apparatus of Spokane, Washington. General Fire has been distributing fire engines since 1957. The new engines will replace five fire engines which are nearly 30 years old and satisfy an insurance industry requirement that penalizes policy holders when a community’s fire engines are more than ten years old.

By retiring a bond debt ahead of schedule, the fire district was able to purchase the new fire engines without asking the voters to raise their fire tax. Two of the older engines will be located on Shaw Island to help improve their fire suppression capabilities and to provide a shared emergency reserve engine for use on Orcas, Lopez, Shaw and San Juan Islands. The other three engines eventually will be sold as surplus property.

Each engine costs approximately $350,000. When adjusted for inflation, the cost for each new engine is $50,000 less than what the Fire District paid for the retiring fire engines back in 1986.

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