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Q&A
Fire apparatus purchase and replacement challenges
0:43:52
ยท
112 sec
Council Member Marmorato inquires about the process of purchasing and replacing fire apparatus. Deputy Commissioner Christoff and Commissioner Tucker explain the current situation and challenges faced.
- FDNY purchases sizable quantities of fire apparatus at a time, with over 200 pieces currently on order
- Post-COVID, manufacturing and delivery times have increased substantially
- The department is accelerating orders to compensate for longer delivery times
- There's a need for additional vehicles beyond firefighting apparatus, particularly for fire prevention inspectors
Kristy Marmorato
0:43:52
to their life expectancy or end of life, will you have the money saved up to purchase new and when you do purchase new do you purchase like a whole fleet?
Lizette Christoff
0:44:01
We do purchase sizable quantities at a time.
0:44:05
So right now we actually have 200 plus pieces of fire apparatus on order.
0:44:11
Unfortunately, we saw post COVID that a lot of the time frames for getting those vehicles back from the manufacturers have increased substantially.
0:44:20
So right now, we do have some vehicles that are overage from what our mandated replacement cycles are.
0:44:27
Not because we didn't have the funding to put in the orders, we have been putting in the orders on time, but because the time frame from when we put in the order to when we receive considerably.
0:44:38
So we're actually accelerating we have been accelerating those orders so that we're putting in the orders earlier so that we're more likely to get the vehicles on time.
Robert Tucker
0:44:48
I think I think it's important also to add that while we have a real schedule vis a vis the apparatus, the more the city budgets to increase our headcount, for example in the Bureau of Fire Prevention, the more cars we need to increase to get those people out in the field doing the inspections.
0:45:11
And so what I'm not seeing is direct correlation on that and I'm trying to work very productively with the budget director on fleet and fleet size because we are sometimes hampered.
0:45:28
The work gets done.
0:45:30
It just gets done slower because for example we don't have cars to give our fire inspectors to go out into the field.
0:45:39
So they use public transportation.
0:45:40
When they do that it happens.
0:45:42
It just happens slower.