Editor,
I am writing in regards to the counter petition against the proposed borrowing bylaw which would allow our fire department to purchase the needed demonstrator model aerial platform truck. There is no doubt whatsoever that we have to replace our 1978 model, which although is well maintained, is aging, somewhat obsolete technology with an insufficient ladder length to adequately protect our newer higher structures. As we move into the future and grow, we are inevitably going to have to build upward, especially if we want economically sustainable affordable housing to be built on city lands, so there will be even more higher structures to protect.
As far as I can tell, all of the current members of council and all of the candidates who went to meet with the department at the fire hall to discuss the matter and take a tour (at the departments invitation) agree that a new truck with a 100’ ladder is needed.
The most important point is that I don’t know the first thing about fire trucks. However I have several concerns about the older more used model, not the least of which is why is it being sold? Some municipality or fire department somewhere several years ago purchased this truck new for full price and are now selling it at a very sharply reduced price. Why? I think that to save money in the long run, we have to invest wisely now; we have to think about the implications of today’s decisions 30 years down the road, not 3 years down the road when the next council will be facing the next election.
Put simply, if elected as a city councillor, I would do everything possible to support the purchase of this aerial platform truck.
Jody Simm,
Revelstoke