With all the demands you face as a Fire Chief and City or County Fleet Director, there’s a solution that works for your critical fleet replacement needs to make certain you have fire apparatus assets that are reliable and equipped with the latest technologies. It’s FireFleet by Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus and it solves multiple challenges to benefit you. Let’s face it, few fire departments have a suitable, comprehensive, and sustainable, fleet replacement plan - so you’re not alone and that’s why there is help. It can be done!
As with most things, the number one impediment to fleet replacement is the cost, or perceived cost, with a prevailing instant reaction of "there's no way we can afford a bunch of new fire trucks". This is due to the conventional and historical underlying belief that it is less expensive to just purchase fire apparatus and use them for an extended period of time.
To quickly summarize, some of the common perceived obstacles to a fire truck fleet replacement and deriving relevant plans include:
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Cost of the new fire trucks.
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Approval process for funding.
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“Rigidity” of the fleet - getting rid of something and replacing it with something else.
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Accounting for increased costs as new trucks have almost always outpaced CPI.
However, there are also some real “pain points” around an aging fleet and these include:
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Mission critical fire apparatus failures.
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Out of service times with apparatus.
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Number of mechanics and number of spare trucks needed (an old fleet almost needs a 1:1 or 1:1.5 reserve ratio).
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Staff and personnel morale with dated trucks.
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Community identity and sense of pride for the citizens being protected.
The solution to remedy this is the Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus FireFleet program. Frankly, it’s all you need!
So starting with the possible objection around the "cost" of new fire trucks, it is not an emotional or really even subjective term. It can be objectively identified in most cases. With fire trucks, the apples to apples comparison is cost per day of available use. For example, the foundational equation to understand this is as follows:
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Start with apparatus purchase cost
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Subtract the residual value
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Add non routine maintenance expenses (not including oil, tires, brakes, but all other)
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Add the cost of funds (whether you use cash or debt to buy, there is still a cost of money)
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Divide by the number of days of available service
The formula works but more importantly, here’s how FireFleet works - and why it works:
With time, FireFleet fundamentally gets you a lot more for your dollar and that’s really important. Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus has studied all industries - both municipal and commercial - and the clear solution is an operating lease. That is a proven winning strategy across all product categories of vehicles and with all types of companies - and all kinds of municipalities.
So why don't fire departments do operating leases on fire trucks?
Because, referencing the earlier formula or equation, the two pieces you have to get absolutely correct on the leasing side are the fire truck residual value and the ability to sell the asset at the end of the lease. Enter Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus, who has the industry’s best expertise and experience to do those two critical components for the math. Now, you have FireFleet - the first ever widely available municipal operating lease option for your fire apparatus fleet.
FireFleet owns your fleet and leases it to you; therefore:
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You never have to make another capital outlay.
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You can lease any apparatus for as long as you wish - you are not required to turn it in at any particular time.
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You can easily move in and out of apparatus as your fleet needs change.
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The program is approved through the NPP.gov cooperative purchasing resource.
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In most cases, you will spend the same amount of money that you currently spend now and your fleet will be no more than 7 years old - ever! We can show you the math!
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You order and specify whatever you want whenever you want.
To learn more and get started, contact Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus (www.firetruckmall.com) today. For a direct conversation, you can reach our President, James Wessel via jwessel@firetruckmall.com or his mobile 256-651-7388. With our FireFleet solution, we will do a no cost evaluation of your current fleet and provide a complete FireFleet proposal to see exactly what it would look like for your department. In the end, this can make the future of your fire apparatus fleet a lot more clear!
