BOONES MILL, Va. – Eight months after losing their tanker truck in an accident, the Boones Mill Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) and Franklin County Public Safety (FCPS) officials remain at odds over its replacement, with disagreements centered on the type and cost of the new vehicle.
The county has offered an $850,000 commercial truck, while the department is seeking a custom-built vehicle costing over $1 million.
“We don’t think that we should be forced to go backwards in our ability to serve,” said Lieutenant Steve Mills of the Boones Mill Volunteer Fire Department.
The previous truck played multiple roles in the department’s operations. “It could serve as an engine that carried a lot of equipment. It carried foam, which was useful for the highway,” Mills explained.
Franklin County Fire & EMS Chief Michael Fowler defended their proposal. “The one that we proposed would be exactly what we would use to replace any other tanker in the county,” he said.
The core dispute centers on the truck’s construction. Boones Mill VFD wants a custom-built truck. Meaning the chassis for the truck is built specifically for fire engines and generally can have more capabilities. FCPS, however, wants to buy a commercial-built truck. This is a truck with a chassis built for a wide range of capabilities, that is turned into a tanker truck after the chassis is built.
“The truck that they’re trying to get us to accept is basically just a water hauling tanker. That’s pretty much all it’s good for,” Mills said.
The previous truck the department used was a custom-built chassis. These trucks tend to be larger and less suited for narrow, twisty roads commonly found in the area.
Fowler says this creates a safety concern for him and was the reason behind other accidents the previous truck had been involved in prior to being totaled in February.
“When you start to get these trucks larger and larger and these tanker trucks are heavy, the inherent risk of running one of these trucks off the road and having another incident is a very real concern for me,” he said.
The situation comes amid rising costs for firefighting equipment nationwide. Franklin County is one of the few localities in the area that fully funds new trucks for volunteer departments, while the Town of Boones Mill started contributing $2,000 annually this year to the department.
Both sides continue to work toward an agreement, though they remain at an impasse over the specifications and cost of the replacement vehicle.