MORGANTOWN — The National Fire Protection Agency recommends removing fire apparatus from frontline service after 10-15 years of use.
Monongalia County’s lone tanker, which operates out of the Granville Fire Department, turns 14 this year. It was purchased by the county in 2011.
It’s starting to show its age.
During a recent sitdown with the Monongalia County Commission, representatives of the Monongalia County Volunteer Fire Companies Association said maintenance and repair costs are starting to accumulate faster than the funds flowing into the association.
Blacksville Fire Chief, and MCVFA President, Kevin Wilson said the association recently spent about $5,000 on tires and is currently sourcing a valve at $6,000 to $8,000 to replace one that busted during the recent cold snap.
Those are relatively inexpensive repairs, all things considered.
Should the truck’s pump fail, that’s likely a $60,000 repair and a lot of down time.
And a parked tanker is bad news in a rural county.
“There’s a lot of areas in the county that still don’t have hydrant systems. I can tell you from above Eastgate on Summer School Road, we have no hydrants, so we’re relying on tankers. When I get a call up there, I’m calling in four or five tankers just to make sure I have a water supply,” Brookhaven Chief Jimmy Lipscomb said. “There’s areas out at Cheat Lake that don’t have hydrant systems. We need the tanker. We need that. It gets used a lot.”
In 2024, the tanker was out on 341 calls, including 197 to the Cheat Lake area alone.
“This tanker is out the door daily; two, three times a day sometimes and, like I say, it’s just taking a toll on it,” Wilson said, explaining the vehicle only has about 26,500 miles on it.
“But that’s not what’s hard on them. It’s sitting on a fire scene for four hours, five, six hours with the pump hammering away on that truck.”
Wilson said he recently received two estimates on new tankers that would fill the needs of the county. One came in right at $700,000; the other just under $600,000.
Monongalia County Administrator Rennetta McClure said leasing may be the most viable option.
“We can get a municipal lease that would be very low interest. We could provide the funding for that and it wouldn’t be this huge chunk of money every year,” McClure said, offering one potential scenario. “Then all they would be responsible for would be the upkeep, but we’d be talking about a brand new vehicle.”
All parties seemed agreeable to exploring the idea.
“It also solves a problem where we’re not going to have this problem in 15 years because you’re getting a new truck every so many years through your lease,” Commission President Jeff Arnett said.
