As old fire engines and tenders are replaced within the Cariboo Regional District the sale of older apparatus will be open to the public.
During its regular meeting Friday, Oct. 2, directors voted in favour of a new procedure for the disposal of fire apparatus replaced due to age.
Chief financial officer Kevin Erickson said as the older apparatus are superfluous to the departments being able to perform their function, it has been determined that the best course of action is to dispose of the used equipment.
“Retaining the apparatus only imposes increased costs on the departments from increased insurance, repairs and maintenance costs. Through their sale they can contribute something back to the service they came from.”
CRD vice-chair John Massier said the notice of sale should be made known locally so that people in the Cariboo Regional District first before it goes to auction houses.
“I know it would cost us a bit to advertise locally, but I feel that this equipment has been bought and paid for by taxpayers of the regional district and that extra bit of dollars invested to give them an ability to look at it,” Massier said, adding he also wanted to CRD to look beyond Kijiji and Craiglist for advertising online.
Erickson said the cost of advertising would be born by the fire department that is having equipment replaced and they have limited budgets.
He also said lots of the fire departments have an interested buyer by the time the CRD puts the items up for sale.
“The word is already out to anybody who might want them.”
Erickson said he brought the policy forward to the board because the fire departments like to hold onto old equipment.
“They seem to think an expanded fleet is a good thing where we heard Don Jolley, [a consultant brought in to help the CRD look at its fire departments] saying it’s redundant equipment and shouldn’t be retained.”
In the next year or so, the CRD will be switching out a lot of old equipment and Erickson said the CRD wants to make it clear that this is how it’s going to be done.
“No you cannot hold onto it in the hopes of re-purposing it.”
When asked by Area D director Steve Forseth it an independent fire department purchased one of the disposed engines or tenders would the CRD be liable, Erickson said ‘no.’
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