LEYDEN — Tasked with presenting the Selectboard with a substantial argument for employing a recently purchased fire engine, the Leyden Firefighters Association compared its current 1976 Engine 1 to national standards and found it fell short.
Leyden Fire Chief and Leyden Firefighters Association President Clifford Spatcher presented a list of codes and standards set by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) during a Tuesday meeting of the association. Spatcher read a list of nearly 20 standards he said Engine 1 does not meet.
Though Spatcher said the standards are not legal requirements, NFPA’s website states the standards are “intended to eliminate death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards.”
According to Spatcher, some standards Engine 1 does not meet include:
having a water tank with a minimum capacity of 1,000 gallons, though it has a 750-gallon tank;
having no fewer than four self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) mounted in brackets fastened to the engine or stored in containers supplied by the manufacturer, though it stores only two;
being able to maintain a speed of at least 20 miles per hour on any grade up to and including six percent;
access to the pump/plumbing by at least one door/panel that is removable without the use of tools and with no one dimension less than 18 inches to allow for visual inspections;
and having reels, handrails, ladders and equipment holders that do not obstruct removal of hose from the storage area.
The association intends to present the standards to the Selectboard along with a letter outlining how employing a 1983 diesel engine — which the association purchased in August with $3,900 of its own money — would benefit the department, should the town accept it as a gift.
A draft of the letter Spatcher plans to present to the Selectboard details how the association’s 1983 engine can hold 250 additional gallons of water, pump 450 more gallons of water per minute, seat more firefighters and store equipment that is currently spread over three vehicles.
The Selectboard decided during an early January meeting that it had no plans to put the new truck in service due primarily to concerns that the engine, a two-wheel-drive vehicle, wouldn’t be able to navigate many of Leyden’s roads, nor its 27 hills. Instead, the board opted to repair Engine 1’s primary problem — a leaking pump — for between $3,500 and $4,000, which will come from the Fire Department’s maintenance account.