The Manitowoc Fire Rescue Department is one of many across the country dealing with backlogs in getting fire apparatuses.
Fire Chief Todd Blaser explained on WOMT’s Be My Guest program that the city will receive a new ladder truck in 2027, after receiving two new fire trucks over the past few years.
But getting them has taken more than a year and a half, which was about average before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Blaser explained back in 2020 that the city was ready to purchase the new fire trucks, but he believes that American Rescue Plan dollars distributed to cities across the country led other fire departments to purchase new apparatus.
“A lot of our different peers out there, if you would, decided, ‘Hey, we need to use this money, fire trucks are one of the things we can buy,’” he noted. “That is not what the City of Manitowoc did. This was something that we had on a regular schedule that we needed for replacement of these vehicles. But some other municipalities and so forth, I think, just took advantage. (They thought) this is a great time to purchase something. We have the money. Let’s do it now rather than later.”
Manitowoc ended up changing contracts and going with a different company because the first contract it signed with a fire truck builder called for extra money due to demand.
Currently, Manitowoc Fire Rescue has a ladder truck, three rescue engines, eight Advanced Life Support Units, a technical rescue vehicle, one inflatable watercraft, one rescue boat, a Survive Alive Trailer, and two utility vehicles split between four fire stations.
