AES to fund two new emergency vehicles for Huntingburg

The Huntingburg Fire Department will receive funding from AES to acquire two new emergency vehicles: a new medical response truck and pumper truck.

Fire Chief Donnie Heim presented the vehicle acquisition requests to the Huntingburg Board of Public Works and Safety during its regular meeting on Thursday.

According to Heim, the new medical truck would be stationed at the north side fire station.

“We’ve all seen what happens when the train does stop and in a medical emergency we want to be able to respond as quickly as we can,” he said. “So that would open up a faster response to the north side of town for medical emergencies.”

The board unanimously approved accepting the new pickup truck into the fleet, with the understanding that the city will handle liability, insurance, maintenance and upkeep costs for the additional vehicle.

The second vehicle acquisition comes as part of the recent settlement with AES in connection to the Crossvine Solar project. It involves replacing the department’s oldest pumper truck through a strategic exchange with Patoka Township. The city will trade its 34-year-old reserve pumper for the township’s 35-year-old reserve pumper, allowing the fire department to use the older vehicle as salvage or trade-in value toward purchasing a new pumper truck.

“The oldest pumper truck in the fleet happens to be owned by, actually technically Patoka Township,” explained City Attorney Phil Schneider. “In order to replace the older one, the city is recommending that you authorize the city to exchange the city’s pumper truck which is a 34-year-old pumper truck for Patoka Township’s which is a 35-year-old pumper truck.”

Mayor Neil Elkins emphasized that the decision focuses on safety and operational effectiveness rather than just age.

“It isn’t just the oldest, it’s the one that’s in the worst condition,” Elkins said. “It’s not going to be safe to use.”

Heim agreed, explaining the challenges of maintaining aging emergency vehicles.

“When you get a truck that’s 30 years old, things go wrong,” he said.

Patoka Township has already approved the exchange during their meeting the previous week, according to Heim. The board unanimously approved the vehicle exchange and authorized the trade or salvage of the older truck toward the new pumper purchase.

The fire department currently gathers specifications and quotes for the new pumper truck, with Heim reporting that they expect to receive four or five quotes from interested vendors. AES is requiring at least three quotes, and the lowest responsible bidder should be selected, even though no city funds are involved.

Delivery timeframes for the new pumper vary significantly depending on the type of chassis selected.

“There’s a company out there that can get it in 180 days because it’s a commercial chassis,” he said. “When you get into the customs it becomes much longer and then it goes all the way up to about 14 to 16 months.”

The requests to accept the two trucks and the trade with Patoka Township were unanimously approved.