BRUNSWICK — Brunswick Fire Department officials are looking to replace Tanker Two, an aging vehicle that carries water to calls outside of Brunswick’s hydrant district and is older than some of the firefighters using it. 

The 1994 Central States tanker carries 1,500 gallons of water with a 1,250 gallons per minute pump. The truck, which primarily shuttles water though sometimes stands in if there’s a fire truck out of service, was originally scheduled to be replaced two years ago, but according to Chief Kenneth Brillant, officials were able to hold off for a few years. 

Purchasing a truck two years ago would have required it be custom made to fit in the town’s small, 101-year-old Central Fire Station, but with a new, state of the art station on the horizon and rust, leaks, transmission issues and other fixes popping up, “we are now at a point where it is time to replace the truck,” Brillant said. “The more you dig into it, the more issues you’re going to find.” 

Brillant is requesting $425,000 to replace the vehicle.

Plans for the new truck are similar to what the department has, but with a 2,000 to 2,500-gallon tank, a 1,500 gallons per minute pump to match the other trucks, and a set of ground ladders. changes. 

The 1,000-1,500 increase in water capacity will make a difference in the department’s ability to fight fires. Every 500 gallons gives firefighters another two to three minutes of time to fight a fire, he said, time that can be crucial while waiting for another truck to arrive. 

Between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, the Brunswick fire department responded to 4,209 calls for service— 3,100 calls for emergency medical services and 1,099 calls for fires and alarms. This reflects a jump of about 80 fire calls from the same period the year before, but a decrease of about 300 EMS calls. 

The department has 36 firefighters split between four shifts. 

The truck is already included in the town’s Capital Improvement Program. The CIP does not appropriate funding or authorize the council to go forward with projects, but identifies planned expenses for the next five-years and helps with the budgeting process. 

Tanker trucks on the higher end can cost closer to $480,000 but Brillant estimates that with $425,000 they “should be able to build a truck that will adequately meet the needs of the department and community for many years.”

Other towns like Freeport and Yarmouth are looking into similar purchases, he said, and if they order together there could be potential cost savings. 

According to Finance Director Julia Henze, If approved, the truck will be paid for via bond ordinance, with the town paying about $50,000 a year for 10 years. The debt service will be issued at the same time as the new $13.5 million fire station, similar to when the ladder truck and Emerson Fire Station were billed together. 

Fire trucks are generally too expensive to replace through the town’s vehicle reserve funds.

Brunswick residents can weigh in on the vehicle purchase at a public hearing Oct. 19.

Plans for the new fire station are still under review by the town’s planning board and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, but town officials hope to put the project out to bid by the end of the year. Latest estimates, according to town manager John Eldridge, have the project “bumping up against” the project’s $13.5 million budget. 

The new station will sit on a 2.4-acre lot at the corner of Pleasant and Webster streets, where Aging Excellence and Residential Mortgage Services currently stand. The two buildings will be demolished to make way for the new fire station.

The one-story brick fire station, designed by WBRC Architects, will be roughly three times the size of the existing Central Fire Station, which is fewer than 10,000 square feet. It will house office space, living quarters and seven vehicle bays.

Paul Monyok, civil engineer, said previously that the building will face Pleasant Street — U.S. Route 1 — and emergency vehicles will exit the building onto Webster Street rather than onto busy Pleasant Street.

Finer details of the station will be further hammered out in the project’s final plan, which is expected to go before the planning board next week. The project can go to bid once all permits are approved and officials expect construction to begin in the spring. 

The new fire station’s $13.5 million price tag includes the $11 million cost of the building and land, as well as a roughly $300,000 bay that had initially been taken out during an earlier price cut. 

The new station will replace the current, 101-year-old facility at 21 Townhall Place, which has a myriad of safety, practicality and code issues.

The station was built in 1919 for horse-drawn fire fighting equipment, and the department has to have trucks specially made and the mirrors removed to fit in the bays, Brillant said earlier. 

The building also doesn’t have a sprinkler system, is not ADA accessible, lacks storage space, room for training, the living quarters sometimes double as office spaces.

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