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Last year, the town paid $3.25 million for 10 fire engines, two ambulances and two ambulance chassis. At the time, the town planned to use a federal grant to add a second ladder company, but those plans changed.
In April, the island's Town Council turned down the four-year, $975,420 grant from the Department of Homeland Security because the town would have a difficult time paying the salaries of the nine ladder truck firefighters when the grant ran out.
Instead, the town's Fire & Rescue Division will spend about $1.5 million to buy two trucks with aerial firefighting capabilities. Called "Quints," the trucks have long ladders but don't require crews with as much experience.The engines are small enough to be used for routine calls.
The change left the town's Fire & Rescue Division with the two fire engines to unload.
The dealership that serves this region, located in Talladega, Ala., agreed to store the two trucks on its lot until buyers could be lined up so the warranty would remain valid.
A fire department in Swampscott, Mass., is buying one truck and some equipment for $335,000, a price that's less than the small town would have paid if it bought directly from the manufacturer. Because every fire truck is built to unique specifications, Hilton Head got a discount for buying in bulk. The truck cost the town about $298,500.
Swampscott, a working-class, coastal community northeast of Boston, would have paid about $500,000 if ithad ordered a single, new truck from Crimson, the manufacturer.
Three Swampscott fire officials visited Hilton Head to check out the island's other fire trucks, which are identical to the one they're buying.
"They gave us full access to the department, their mechanics, their vendors, and we were impressed," Swampscott Fire Chief Mike Champion told the local newspaper, the Swampscott Observer.
Other fire departments continue to express interest in Hilton Head's other fire truck that's for sale, but "there's nothing concrete at the moment," said Fire Chief Lavarn Lucas.
