Cornwall weighs fire truck options

CORNWALL — A detailed specification list developed by Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department’s truck committee for a new truck has brought in one qualified manufacturer to bid.

The sole bid was from Alexis Fire Equipment Company in Illinois, which set an all-in price tag around $760,000 for the custom, stainless-steel truck sized to fit in the old firehouse.

“The town will have available on July 1st $640,000 [in the truck fund]. So that leaves a bit of a gap,” said First Selectman Gordon Ridgway at a June 4 meeting of the board.

The price from Alexis will hold until July 15, by which time CVFD will either need to come up with about $120,000 to move forward with the bid or start over with a revised spec list.

Fire Chief John LaPorta was in attendance and said the truck was designed specifically to meet Cornwall’s needs. He believed the department’s requests were not “extravagant” and the bid that came in would produce a truck for “the long term.”

“To try to think about re-speccing at this point would be a really big task,” said LaPorta.

In order to move forward, CVFD would have to come up with the balance difference. The topic will be discussed at CVFD’s monthly meeting Wednesday, June 26.