Williamstown Fire District Facing Emergency Repair on Fire Engine
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Fire District is looking at a major unplanned expense to get one of its engines back on the road.
Last week, Chief Craig Pedercini told the Prudential Committee that an issue on Engine 2 that officials planned to address in fiscal year 2026 reached the point where he had to pull the apparatus from service.
"[Nov. 22], when the truck came back from a visit up to the day-care center, the driver noticed that the mud flap on the driver's side was less than an inch off the floor here in the truck room," Pedercini said at the monthly meeting of the committee that oversees the district. "Looking underneath, we found that at least one section [of the subframe] had broken underneath, and things were starting to give way on the back end of the truck.
"So I took the truck out of service on Friday. And we got some people together and took the water off the truck immediately just to get the weight off it. Then, Saturday, we took off the hose and started emptying compartments in the reward section.
"I wouldn't even drive it to Connecticut to have it looked at."
That means the best option will be to have the truck hauled on a flatbed to Alliance Used Truck Center in Hartford, Conn., where the department normally has its engines serviced. Pedercini told the committee that it will cost about $700 to put the engine on a flatbed and haul it to Connecticut.
But that is just the start of the anticipated bill
"The subframe itself, you're probably looking at a minimum of $25,000 to $30,000," Pedercini said in the meeting telecast on the town's community access television station, Willinet. "That was really a ballpark number. It all depends on, the more they dig into it, what they find.
"To do the whole thing over, I'd venture to ballpark we're looking at closer to $40,000."
The upside is that the refurbishing will allow the district to get more life out of the apparatus.
"The goal of getting this all revamped is to get another 10 years out of that truck," Pedercini said. "I feel confident we can do that by getting that frame done. It's a lot better than spending a million dollars on another truck."
The issue with the subframe was identified when Engine 2 underwent a routine inspection in the spring, Pedercini reminded the Prudential Committee members.
"One of the reports from the mechanic was that the subframes are getting rusted up bad on Engine 1 and Engine 2," Pedercini said. "Engine 2 was worse. Looking into that, we're finding Engine 1 has more steel to the subframe."
The Prudential Committee agreed that Pedercini should take the first step of transporting the engine to the service center so it can be assessed and the district can get an estimate of the potential cost.
"In the meantime, we've got Engine 1, which we're using," Pedercini said. "We've got Engine 3, which is going to move up and be used a lot more than we have in the past. That truck is in good shape for us.
"Engine 2, bear in mind, is [normally] the first truck out the door all the time. … Engine 2 has been the first truck out the door since 2006."
In other engine related news, the Prudential Committee at its Nov. 27 meeting authorized a $210,000 expenditure from the district's stabilization fund toward the purchase of a new mini rescue truck that was approved at the annual district meeting in May. That apparatus is scheduled to replace Engine 1.
The committee Wednesday also talked about maintenance issues related to the biggest investment the district has made in a generation, the new fire station on Main Street.
District Treasurer Billie Jo Sawyer told the Prudential Committee that in making plans for the FY 2026 budget, she needs guidance on how to plan for preventive maintenance and routine costs associated with the larger, up-to-date station which is planned to be operational in December 2025.
Committee Chair David Moresi, who noted that he has experience in creating a maintenance plan for buildings as the proprietor of Moresi and Associates Development Co., said the Fire Department will need to make its best guess at costs for the second half of the fiscal year but would have data to plan with more certainty going into FY27 and beyond.
"It's unknown at this point until you really know," Moresi said. "You've got this particular system, and every two months, you've got to replace filters or something. This building is very prominent. It's got to be maintained to a certain standard."
As part of the closeout process next year, the district will receive maintenance manuals for all the new building's systems, Moresi noted. In the meantime, he offered to help Sawyer and the district's staff make the best guess they can for budgeting purposes.
"It's not a perfected science until the project is done," he said. "I do have preventative maintenance budgets we could fill in. I have templates for a building like that."
The building project itself continues to stay on schedule, district construction adviser Bruce Decoteau told the committee last week.
The last of the concrete foundation work is finished, and he anticipated the masonry work to begin the week after Thanksgiving, Decoteau said. The project is on track to see the erection of steel to begin in mid-December.
And Decoteau shared some good news on the project's budget.
Two features that originally were on the chopping block in the value-engineering process have been brought back into the project's scope, Decoteau reported.
"The metal roof is going to happen, and, for the storage shed, the foundation is in, so that's going to happen. Those are the two major [features] we took out. But with Consigli and negotiations, we were able to afford putting them back in."
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