Fire truck wanted in Manassas
{Submitted photo}
A new fire truck would replace the city’s 16-year-old tower ladder truck, which was parked in a garage for more than 100 days last year because of mechanical problems, said Manassas fire and rescue spokesman Francis J. Teevan.
Fire officials in Manassas are asking the public to help them get a new fire truck.
The department recently filed a request to obtain $900,000 from the Department of Homeland Security for the purchase of a new ladder truck.
The truck would replace the city’s 16-year-old tower ladder truck, which was parked in a garage for more than 100 days last year because of mechanical problems, said Manassas fire and rescue spokesman Francis J. Teevan.
The ladder truck is the only one of its kind in the city, and the only truck that is consistently staffed by firefighters from Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William County, added Teevan.
Hard budget times have meant more down time for the aging vehicle and, without the federal grant, it is unlikely that the city will be able to come up with the funds to replace the truck.
The current projected cost of a replacement truck tops $1 million, said Teevan.
But there is something residents can do to help get the grant money.
City officials are encouraging residents to write to the Grant Programs Administrator at DHS in Washington in hopes a public outcry will help their chances in getting the money.
The City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Department is a combination department, which uses both career staff and volunteers to respond to fires and medical emergencies in Manassas and can assist in Manassas Park and Prince William County.
Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.
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Reader Reactions
We’re up to post number two now and you still haven’t given me one reason why you think I’m not a firefighter. Guess you couldn’t come up with one. You also didn’t cite an example where I accused the Chief of any wrongdoing. Guess you couldn’t find any.
Your words, not mine:
“You could FOIA the City until the cows come home, but you wont receive one bit of information concerning the care and maintenance of the Citys equipment.“
Nonsense. It’s nothing a first class postage stamp wouldn’t cure. Do you really think the city would throw it’s hands up in the air and say “Oh no! What do we do with this one?!?“ They’d simply forward it to the volunteer organization! Even if they didn’t, it’s not a tough fix. You make it sounds like it’s some insurmountable obstacle. Maybe for a person such as yourself, but a person of average intelligence would know what to do if that happened.
Seriously, do you have a point at all or are you just going to attack my qualifications again without citing any reasons?
drzeus, maybe you need to take the time to read. I never said you couldn’t FOIA the volunteers. My comment was you wont get anything from the City of Manassas concerning maintenance of FD equipment. In addition, I also said your questions were valid, just directed to the wrong party, please read before you comment. In addition, Yes, I question your claim to be a fireman, because many of your concerns as a career fireman as you claim, don’t make sense. You are a fine one to call someone a coward, you sit on this blog and question the Chief and don’t have the guts to post under your real name. If I had been questioning the City or the FD, I would have manned up and used my name. You probably didn’t because you are a volunteer in Manassas. “shut my mouth”, wow I must have hit a nerve. Real professional there drzeus!!
I almost forgot. What makes you so sure that the volunteers are not subject to a FOIA request, fyreman1?
According to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, (Title 2.2, Chapter 27 of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended), a “public body” is defined as: Any legislative body, authority, board, bureau, commission, district or agency of the Commonwealth or of any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, including cities, towns and counties, municipal councils, governing bodies of counties, school boards and planning commissions; boards of visitors of public institutions of higher education; and “OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, CORPORATIONS OR AGENCIES IN THE COMMONWEALTH SUPPORTED WHOLLY OR PRINCIPALLY BY PUBLIC FUNDS.“ (caps added for emphasis)
It seems to me that a volunteer fire department falls well within this definition, unless they raise their own funds which I doubt Manassas does.
The lesson today is, before you speak, make sure you have a clue.
fyreman1,
Where do I begin with this one?
Start from the beginning and read all of my posts. Show me one instance where I accused the Chief of ANY wrongdoing. I’m simply asking the same questions an informed citizen would and offering proactive ways to increase public confidence and the chances that they receive the grant. If I were a Manassas resident, I would be unconvinced that the city or the volunteers (if you must get technical) need another tower. And that’s all this boils down to. Do you think citizens care about all the fingerpointing as to who is responsible for the shotty maintenance? They are not stupid. They see the waste, and just want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
I for one am sick of government agencies, my own profession included, wantonly claiming “We need X. Therefore, pay for it.“ without any proactive justification. Call me a nonconforming poop-stirrer, but I like to know why this tower needs replacement when so many others like it don’t.
And with the exception of my nod to station 11 for being pretty good about staffing, I have been pinning the responsibility on volunteer spending habits and poor staffing from the beginning. What made you think I was blaming the Chief?!
Finally, just for fun, what exactly in all of my posts makes you question whether I am a firefighter? You took that jab and ran with it like a little coward. So please elaborate or kindly shut your mouth, because you have no idea who I am or what my qualifications are.
drzeus, alot of your questions are valid but sent to the wrong person. The City, career staff and the NEW Chief are not responsible for the current condition of the tower. All manassas City Fire Department vehicles are maintained by the volunteers. They took control many years ago because they felt the City was overcharging them for the service. Any mismanagement concerns should be directed at them. I am not a member at manassas but I am an employee of a major NOVA department and many of your questions make me question your claim to be a fireman. You could FOIA the City until the cows come home, but you wont receive one bit of information concerning the care and maintenance of the Citys equipment. In addition, in case you haven’t read, that wonderful state of the art web site is owned and operated by the volunteers which the chief has no control over. Instaed of making accusations of wrong doing by the newly hired chief why don’t you ask these questions of the volunteers. There is one common thread in all your questions, the volunteers are the ones who should have the answers. Maybe they have been mismanaging their money all these years. I do not care what any volunteer states, they are the ones who left the station unstaffed on several nights which mandated the need for a fully career staffed fire house. I have never met Chief Wood, but he seems to be willing to work with the volunteers from what I hear, obviously takes the time to answer what he can and has taken the necessary steps to ensure the City of Manassas is staffed with a professional department with the proper equipment. This is something the City should have had years ago and now he is playing catch-up.
Chief,
Thank you for your candor. I know you are very busy; I respect that and I understand if you do not have the time or resources to continue a discussion on this forum. However, open forums are a very healthy exercise, so I will continue to post here even if you cannot. Who knows? Maybe in the process some concerned Manassas resident will become a little more educated on fire service politics.
Since you dismissed my question regarding the need for tower 501, I’ll rephrase. How did your department conduct its daily response activity without the tower? And why can’t you continue to do this indefinitely? We’re talking 100 days that your department went without an aerial. Not a few days. Not a week. Not even a month. Being missing for three months out of the year means your department either relied heavily on neighboring departments, or you scratched on a lot of calls. If you can go three months, why not six? A year? Why do you need it at all when nearby departments have apparatus ready to respond? And if a nearby aerial is not staffed, that’s a ripe opportunity to get on the horn at night and borrow it. Volunteer departments do this all the time and it’s a very informal process. Did this happen, or do you only borrow from departments that have “reserve units”?
I am glad that Manassas has agreements in place to borrow apparatus. How many of the 100 days did Manassas actually borrow aerials that were unstaffed? Actual numbers showing a proactive effort to cover for the out of service aerial would shut these concerns down immediately. I’m sure they will come to light at a future city council meeting, so why not nip it in the bud now?
I am not a Chief, numbers guy, or even a mechanic, but 100 days for a repair seems insanely excessive even for fabrication. Do you think these repairs were due to normal wear and tear, or could they have been prevented if maintenance per manufacturer specifications was performed? Maybe you could post copies of the maintenance records somewhere on the Manassas VFD web site so the public can rest assured the next $1,000,000 aerial’s maintenance record will be just as stellar. I’m just throwing ideas out there on ways you could go about this proactively. If these concerns go unaddressed, you might find the public will do the research themself. FOIA requests can lead to nasty surprises, so it might be best to reassure the public before you ask for the million dollars.
To state that seeking grants shows good money management is obtuse at best, Chief, and possibly a little deceptive. For example, several volunteer companies close to yours have state of the art, but VERY poorly maintained apparatus. They do this in order to justify budgets and purchase new units every four years or so. It’s no secret to those in the business, but this is a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars that Joe Public is simply unaware of. It’s a despicable practice that I would hope your department is not guilty of. Nevertheless, it is a ticket to fire levy funds, and grant money. So from a very simplistic perspective, you are correct. Seeking grants = more money = good. But sometimes a deeper examining of a department’s purchasing habits yields a more sinister picture. Fire stations that look like hotels. Bleeding edge technology that is never used. Wasteful renovations of stations that there was nothing wrong with. This is rampant in government spending, but does that make it right?
I’m just asking for a little candor. Perhaps your state of the art web site with audio, video, and other multimedia capabilities could address some of these issues, if you can’t do it here.
I’m not trying to be sarcastic or disrespectful, so it would be in your interest to not dismiss them should they come up in the future.
Greetings drzeus,
At the risk of appearing short on blog time, please accept this reply with the understanding that my previous submission was offered to clarify to the community at large the nature of the grant funding source and the opportunity for the City that it represents.
In respect to your post, I’ll address your reply and request that additional discussion be moved offline. The Fire and Rescue Department lacks the human resources to routinely monitor blogs. At the same time, we strive to maintain our accessibility by the community. I encourage you to call or stop by.
The City has previously supported the acquisition of fire and rescue apparatus through donations to the volunteer fire and rescue companies. For a number of years, a contribution for apparatus was earmarked for heavy apparatus, though because of economic conditions such direct contribution did not occur in the current fiscal year. As you understand, this suspension was not the result of poor planning, but rather poor regional economics similar to the rest of the nation.
The current tower experienced out of service time for a myriad of reasons, including lengthy waterway repairs, a major transmission repair, and others. You should also realize, as Im sure you do, that routine maintenance, ladder certification testing, and other issues mandate additional down time.
Unlike automobiles, aging fire service apparatus often require the fabrication of parts. Such was the case with the waterway, as an example. No parts were available and therefore time consuming fabrication was required.
Yes, we do borrow apparatus from neighboring jurisdictions when ours are out of service. Last week, for instance, we borrowed a heavy rescue squad from a neighboring county when ours was out of service for a three day period. Keep in mind, however, other jurisdictions can only lend the City apparatus when they have reserve equipmennt avialable. This is not always the case.
You mention that you are a career firefighter in a neighboring community. Your department may even have a reserve fleet. Many do, typically inclusive of ambulances and fire engines. Far fewer have reserve aerials and heavy squads. Fewer yet have ample reserves to faciliate borrowing by other jurisdictions.
In your post you indicate that money is being handed out like candy. This is far from correct. FIREACT grants are, as I previously stated, competitive grants. There is no assurance that specific departments will win an award. Historically, most do not due to insufficient federal funding. But that does not relieve communities of the responsibility of seeking grant dollars when avaialble. Nor does seeking of those dollars imply poor management. Actually, the contrary is true.
As for the assertion that the region survived without the current tower for 100 days as proof that there is no need for aerail service, I would offer that your self-described sarcasm demerits your point so I will dismiss it accordingly.
In closing, you should understand that the seeking of grants is a legitimate function of local government. The request for grants by any jurisdiction, including whichever you work for as a career firefighter is predicated on their availability and applicability. However, requesting them in no way suggests poor planning or crisis. Actually, proactive seeking of grants is a very positive management function.
The City of Manassas and its volunteer organizations strive to provide the highest degree of public safety. I encourage you to contact us to discuss any lingering concerns, and offer my thanks for your interest and concern.
Thank you and stay safe.
Fire and Rescue Chief Mike Wood
City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Department
I appreciate Chief Wood posting to give the community a better understanding of the need for this hardware but as drzeus pointed out the background is still a bit fuzzy.
Until more information comes out as to why this wasn’t a planned expenditure, why it wasn’t planned, or what happened with current funding to not allow for budgetting of this rig I am inclined to write to Washington asking for them NOT to make the grant.
As many have posted the grant money is there and if we don’t take it someone else will. But, thats lazy thinking and it’s belittling. As citizens it is our collective responsibility to check government. Asking the rest of this nation to pay for something that we internally are either unwilling or unable to pay for makes us no better than a crack addict robbing a person to get money to buy another hit.
If the fire levy isn’t high enough or if spending on training or other gear has exceeded available budget dollars - we need to know this. The citizens need to know so that we can adjust those numbers up or down; commit more resources or take them away if they’re being misspent.
Looking at this another way. If we absolutly need this truck and we have no other option but to purchase one - how many career positions or benefits are we willing to eliminate to make this happen?
Chief Wood,
What has the city has done in the way of budgeting for this very predictable and inevitable expense the past 16 years? What was the exact reason the tower was out of service for a third of the year? During that time, how did you manage to get by, and why all of a sudden can you not get by anymore? Do you have an agreement with any of the neighboring volunteer companies to share aerials (like OWL and Dale City) when one is out of service? If not, why not?
I am a career firefighter in another jurisdiction, and while several career personnel have spoken in favor of your new tower, I do not see the justification. In a time when money is being handed out like candy and everyone is looking for his or her bailout, I have to wonder why all of a sudden this is such a pressing issue? You managed to survive 100 days without the tower, so it couldn’t have been all that important, right? I say that with a hint of sarcasm, but in reality, if it is such a crucial unit, perhaps it should have been maintained and budgeted for better.
Greetings,
In the spirit of “Well, why didn’t you say so?“ I wanted to take a brief moment to share additional information concerning the City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Department’s effort to replace our aerial unit.
The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Administration, each year sponsors the FIREACT competitive grant process, an opportunity for localities to request federal funding to support the purchase of apparatus that may not otherwise be acquired due to local economic conditions. The FIREACT grant funding is specifically allocated by the federal government for fire and rescue service enhancement purposes.
The City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Department, recognizing that our current aerial is aging and represents a significant replacement cost, elected to submit for a grant under the 2009 FIREACT process. I believe that to have ignored this opportunity would have demonstrated poor fiscal judgement and equally poor business practices. The alternative to applying for the FIREACT grant would assure that the entire cost of a replacement aerial would be cast upon the local tax base.
While aerial apparatus is critical to all communities, I concur that their cost can be extreme. However, their price reflects not only the technical nature of the apparatus, but also their overall public safety value (PSV).
Most people view aerial apparatus only for their ladder or platform. However, aerial companies also provide elevated fire streams and rescue capability, and support other critical fireground functions such as search for trapped occupants,ventilation of fire buildings, scene lighting, etc. They are also used to support emergency medical services requirements within the jurisdiction.
You should also know that jurisdictions are graded for fire service protection by the insurance industry. Homeowner insurance rates can be impacted by these ratings, of which aerial apparatus scoring is included. So, while modern fire apparatus is expensive, it is essential. The task for the City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Department is to assure fiscal responsibility in meeting the public safety needs of our community and safety requirements of our career and volunteer fire fighters.
The City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Department would be happy to further discuss this or any other fire~rescue related question you may have. Please do not hesitate to contact our administrative office number at 703-257-8458.
We stand ready to serve you. Thank you for your support. Stay safe.
Fire and Rescue Chief Mike Wood
City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Department
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