07.02 - Request to Purchase Air Packs

Home Browse Search

TO: FROM: DATE: RE: PEQUOT LAKES FIRE DEPARTMENT 12eouotfd@peguotlakes-rnn.gov 4638 County Road 11 Pequot Lakes, MN 56472 (218)568 -8201 Fax (218)568 -7672 Pequot Lakes Mayor & City Council Tom Nelson, Chief Bill Rickard, Assistant Chief September 28, 2010 Air Pack Proposal — Step 2 The Pequot Lakes Fire Department is in need of new air packs. We have tried unsuccessflAy to receive the FEMA Fire Grant for these items. We can no longer wait for the possibility of receiving a gm TL We have begun the transition to the new system by purchasing a new cascade filling system to accommodate high pressure bottles. This system was officially installed the week of September 20, 2010. We now need to move on to Step 2: 2'd step: Some of our air packs are 20 years old. We need to update our air packs so they meet NFPA 2002 Standard, in doing this, we would like to convert to a high pressure system to allow for more air time (air capacity/bottle). Replacing our air packs has become safety issue; we cannot wait for grant fimdmg to move forward with this project. Save looked into the option of purchasing brand new air packs, but the pricing is extremely high and would require s�r ading the payments out over a few years, which we do not want to do. We have also looked into buying new, a few at a time, but this does not alleviate our safety concerns for the air packs we have now. Not replacing all of the air . packs at once brings into play the fact that currently we have 4 different types of regulators for our air packs; this alone is a huge safety factor. This is the proposal we have come up with: Purchase 5 reconditioned 2002 NFPA Compliant SCBA's (complete units) $10,551.25 (These will replace our oldest packs) Change out 13 of our current air packs from low - pressure (2216 psi) wo 4;,r bol�le sS to high pressure (4500 psi) complete change out $ 2,585.10 Purchase 23 high pressure MSA 45/4500 air bottles Total cost of 22d step: $ 6,252.50 - 'DAA C. $19,388.85 Benefit: In converting everything to high pressure, this allows us to have more air time per bottle, plus these bottles are actually smaller than the low pressure ones we currently have, meaning they will weigh less, causing less fatigue and stress on the firefighter. The second important benefit is that all of the face pieces and regulators will have the same connection. This will eliminate situations where the wrong pack & the wrong regulators have been put together. Lastly, this will bring us up to date with NFPA 2002 Standards. (..,money for this project will come out of the Fire Department budget.