The City of Sterling has announced that they are taking a step forward with their aging fleet of fire trucks.
In October 2024, Interim Fire Chief Forest Reeder told the council that they had a critical choice to make and that it needed to be done soon. The decision was to either keep investing in an aging fleet that can be unreliable and expensive to repair due to old parts being hard to find, or, spend millions on new trucks that are dependable and can be used for up to two decades.
The City of Sterling does have a new engine from 2020 that is still in service but their other two engines are from 2011 and require more upkeep.
Sterling has announced that a new water tanker will be arriving this spring, but the most expensive truck of the fleet, the ladder truck, is now almost nearly 18 years old.
Deputy Chief David Northcutt presented the council with their final choice for a brand new replacement: “Our truck committee did a really good job doing all their homework. Narrowed it down to a couple of the manufacturers and tonight, we presented one for the King Cobra which is made by Rosenbauer out of Minnesota.”
The proposed truck has a price tag of about $1.9 million, so there were questions raised about how the City will be able to meet this cost.
Northcutt said that they were able to score discounts, including offering to pau in-full upfront, which would bring the price down from over $2 million.
It was also proposed in the meeting that the City could sell the current ladder truck, along with one of the older engines, which could potentially make about $500,000.
The remainder of the cost would come from the city’s capital reserve budget without any need for raising taxes.
Northcutt says approving this purchase would put the department in good position for the next several years. He said: “We get this one then we should be good for 8 years before we have to buy another big apparatus.
“We still have some utility vehicles that we’re gonna have to replace, things like that, but we should be good.”
To help get the most out every dollar spent on the new ladder truck, Northcutt says the department would start using it as the ‘first out’ unit for every call within city limits, rather than sending a regular engine, like they do now.
He added, the department has provided council with a 21-year replacement plan for the rest of their fleet.
The City of Sterling has announced that they are discussing the possibility of upgrading their aging fleet of fire trucks.
