Repairs to fire truck are delayed

The Belgium Fire Department’s Christmas present is going to arrive later than expected.

Its 1995 pumper is still out of commission, waiting for a new engine.

Fire Chief Dan Birenbaum was told last week by How-Dea Service Center in Belgium that the new engine hadn’t arrive d and won’t until after Jan. 1.

“You’re just worried if you ever need that third engine. It’s just in the back of your mind,” he said. “You never know when a fire could start.”

While en route to a recent training session, a piston blew through the trucks’ engine block, which is detrimental to a machine’s ability to operate.

Birenbaum said there were no warning signs and it was nobody’s fault.

“It just happens. There was no warning signs or anything,” he said.

The truck is slated to be replaced in 2025, according to the department’s schedule.

Birenbaum said the estimated cost to rebuild the engine is $29,700.

That is being split between the department and the village and town of Belgium.

The Town Board in November agreed to spend up to $12,000 to repair the engine.

“I can tell you where it’s going to come out of — the road budget,” Town Chairman Tom Winker said. “I don’t see that we have a choice. It’s an engine that’s needed.”

Winker said he spent about three hours on the phone over three days looking for a warranty on the truck with 20,000 miles without a positive result.

The Village Board agreed to pay $8,800 toward the engine.

The fire department will pay the remaining $8,900.

That’s the second unexpected cost this year for the department, which is replacing its 1993 grass fire truck with a new and improved version that will be equipped with foam and is expected to respond to nearly all calls.

The department had planned ahead to replace the truck, but the cost came in nearly $15,000 higher than expected.

The truck costs $89,264, more than the expected $75,000. The town and village agreed to split the $75,000 cost according to equalized property value. The town will pay $43,305 and the village $31,695.

The department was planning to pick up the remaining $14,264 through its budget and through the sale of the old truck, but an anonymous donor stepped in to pay that amount.