Nearly $1.8 million has been approved by Ridgefield residents during a special town meeting to replace two fire trucks.  The apparatus were set for replacement in 2024 and 2025, but will be moved up in the capital plan due to their current poor condition and long lead time for new trucks.  First Selectman Rudy Marconi says the delivery time for Pierce fire trucks is about 17 months from the time of order. 

Danbury and Bridgeport exclusively use that brand and Marconi says both have run their vehicles very hard.  Pierce's service center is located over the state border in Patterson. 

Fire Chief Jerry Meyers made the case for bumping up the purchase. 

He noted that in the past six months, "we have not had all three of our pumpers in service for longer than five days. We are just experiencing a significant amount of failure in them that has required a lot of maintenance and we're reaching a point now ... we have to ask ourselves today, 'will these trucks be running for us two years from now?' And my gut tells me, 'No, they won't be,' so we need to act a little bit sooner on it. And that's the reason for the off-budget request." 

Selectman Sean Connelly says by purchasing Pierce trucks, this could make it easier to sign a shared maintenance agreement with the City of Danbury.  They could be maintained at a repair facility at Kenosia Avenue.  Marconi notes that they haven't negotiated any agreement with Danbury as of this point, but are hoping to.  The negotiations are underway.