At the West Grove Fire Company's October business meeting, the membership unanimously approved the purchase of the next fire engine. On the recommendation of the company's apparatus committee, WGFC will purchase it's second Seagrave pumper, modeled after the first Engine now in service as Engine 22-1. The contract price was $946,518.00.

WGFC operates its fleet based on a 25-year plan for apparatus replacement. The plan was conceived with the help of expert consultants to schedule out the purchases for apparatus, providing a foundation for the planning for large capital expenditures. On the recommendations of experienced apparatus purchasing experts, the plan calls for the timely replacement of apparatus at their expected service lives, and lays out for the fire company and for municipal officials expected expenses over a long time time horizon. This is particularly important for the large apparatus as these are significant purchases and funding must be available to cover six-figure investments.

In accordance with the apparatus replacement plan, WGFC formed a committee to study the replacement of its 2003 Pierce pumper, now operating at the third station in London Britain Township as Engine 22-3. As new fire trucks are currently taking nearly 600 days to be built and received, a new fire truck would not be available for delivery until late 2024 when Engine 3 would be over 21 years in service.

In March 2022, WGFC placed in service it's newest Engine, now running out of the West Grove station as Engine 22-1 (see: https://www.wgfc.org/news/1150/New-Engine-22-1-Placed-in-Service#:~:text=The%20WGFC%20has%20placed%20into,for%20fire%20attack%20and%20supply.). That truck, a Seagrave Marauder 2 Engine, features an all stainless steel construction for the chassis and body for long service life, has been exceptionally received for the quality of its construction and flexibility of its setup and features for West Grove's firefighting needs.

As such, the current apparatus committee and the fire company leadership and membership decided to make it's next purchase the exact same truck -- not only would having two identical trucks ease operations with common equipment placing and layout, it also would help keep the overall cost of the second vehicle to a minimum as engineering and planning costs would be significantly reduced.

The new Engine, which is expected to be delivered in late 2024, would also be a 141" Seagrave Marauder 2 chassis with a 146" stainless steel body. Like it's sister Engine already in the fleet, it will feature a 1500 gallon per minute Waterous pump, carry 1000 gallons of water, and operate with a Cummins L9 engine (450 HP) and Allison transmission. The truck features numerous safety systems to protect firefighters including a Rolltek safety system with airbags. For firefighting, the truck features five pre-connected handlines and a pre-piped deck gun. The new Engine will be nearly identical to Engine 22-1, with the committee making two minor changes -- adding a front suction connection, and a continuous-functioning valve on the rear intake.

Due to significant increases in parts and materials costs (that are impacting nearly every aspect of firefighting and daily life), the contract cost of the new Engine was significantly higher than the previous Seagrave Engine by nearly $175,000. The truck was purchased from Seagrave through their local dealer 10-8 Emergency Vehicle Services of New Holland, PA. The new Engine would be expected to be in service more than 20 years through 2045 at an annualized cost of approximately $47,000.

The contract for the new fire Engine was signed by President Neil Vaughn during a signing ceremony after the October meeting Wednesday evening. At the table was 10-8's representative Troy Wenger, committee chairman Eric Felker, and Fire Chief Justin Gattorno. The new Engine will be paid for through a combination of available funds in the fire company's equipment replacement budget, with the support of municipal and state funds, and public donations.