By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Fire Department is requesting a $488,000 capital budget for fiscal year 2026.
Chief/Emergency Glenn Davis said during the Select Board’s Jan. 13 meeting that his first capital request is $250,000 in order to refurbish Ladder 1, which he said is 18 years old.
“If we do a refurbishment of that, we think for about $250,000 that we can replace all of the aging mechanical equipment that will give us another 10 to 15 years on this truck,” said Davis. “The body is sound and the motor is sound, but the technology is outdated for the pieces that wear and tear. A brand new ladder truck now is about $2.3 million. This will definitely give us a great return on investment by doing these repairs.”
Select Board Chair Dick Dalton asked how long Ladder 1 would be out of service if it gets refurbished.
“We think we can do it in three or four months,” said Davis. “It will be out for a period of time, but I have already talked to surrounding chiefs about either borrowing a ladder truck for the meantime so that we don’t leave ourselves in jeopardy or get coverage from other communities. Wilmington’s ladder truck was hit on the highway during a motor vehicle accident, and that is going to be out for about six months. They borrowed a ladder truck. Some communities have spares that we would have access to.”
Davis said his second capital request is $55,000 to rebuild Engine 1’s motor.
“Engine 1 is our newest engine from 2017,” said Davis. “We just found out that the motor needs to be rebuilt. It has a leak in the cylinders that is non-repairable without pulling it apart and doing a total motor rebuild. We do have a new fire engine on order that got approved back in 2023. The latest update on when we are going to see that is November 2026. It is still over a year away. They still say COVID is the problem. We can build a firehouse in less time than they can build me a fire truck. We really do need to do this work on Engine 1 to keep it going.”
Davis has also requested two Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs, totaling $140,000. He said one SUV would be used as a command vehicle and the other would serve as a non-transporting ALS response vehicle. Davis is looking to replace a 2008 Ford Explorer with 151,779 miles and a 2010 Chevy Tahoe with 129,467 miles.
“All of my smaller vehicles are aging,” said Davis. “They are old and tired, and are becoming more costly to repair than to get a new vehicle running.”
Davis recalled that the town’s FY25 operating budget funded two full-time career firefighter positions to improve responses to overnight calls. He also said the Fire Department was recently awarded a $1,199,469.08 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He said the SAFER Grant was used to hire four additional career firefighters and is funding their salaries and benefits for the next three years.
“I am hoping to have both stations open during the overnight hours with three firefighters on duty in each station,” said Davis. “If we get a medical aid call at either station, we can run one of these smaller vehicles with the ambulance for the manpower and not have to run an engine every time. Instead of running a $900,000 piece of fire equipment, we can run a Tahoe or an Explorer to get the manpower there for the assistance. The other station would still be manned with a fire engine and an ambulance.”
Davis is also requesting a UTV and an ATV/all-wheel drive brush fire vehicle, which have a combined $43,000 price tag. He recalled that more residents are using Lynnfield Woodlot and Willis Woods on upper Main Street for passive recreation.
“We are now advertising that we have walking pathways for passive recreation out there,” said Davis. “I have no way to get out there to get an injured person out without walking in. And if there is a fire out in those woods, I have no way to get water out to it. We used to be able to get in from North Reading over the Elm Street Bridge, but that bridge has been condemned. I cannot get a fire vehicle out to that wooded area.”
Davis said he met with representatives from Bostik to discuss accessing a rail bed on the property, but he noted that the area “needs work.”
“We need to maintain that,” said Davis. “We need to level out some of the swales that are in it so we can get our vehicles out there. One would be set up with water and a hose on it to be able to combat fires and the other would be set up with a stretcher so if we had an injured mountain biker or hiker, we would have a way to get in there and get them out.”
Davis also said the ATV with the stretcher could be used to transport people who have a medical emergency on the town’s two golf courses.
“I cannot get out to any of the holes on either of the golf courses in town to access a patient,” said Davis.