City of Oak Creek

Common Council Report

 

Meeting Date:           9/2/03

Item No.:         10

 

Recommendation:  That the Common Council approve the purchase of new breathing apparatus from Interstate, 255 N 121st Street, Milwaukee, for a total price of $125,677.00.

 

Background: The department’s self-contained breathing apparatus range from 13 to 20 years old.  During this period they have undergone several upgrades to meet revisions to the NFPA standard. There are currently 4 models of Personal Accountability Safety System devices in use, leading to manual activation issues from dissimilar devices.  The manual operation of these devices leads to non-activation under emergency conditions and false alarming during a fire.  Also, shoulder harnesses are wearing out and failures have occurred which could compromise safety.

 

The replacements have automatic activation upon donning and will reduce false alarms due to the new sensor technology using a non-corrosive circuit board and bronze ball bearing that is electrically conductive. The replacement units are lighter in weight and offer improved ergonomics. They can be placed into operation faster and offer improved vision and communications and meet the current NFPA standard that includes many WMD incidents. The units have significantly fewer moving parts to reduce maintenance and maintenance costs have advanced safety features.

 

The project includes a new testing device that will meet the new qualitative and quantitative standards for SCBA maintenance. Savings in service will offset the cost of this device in the first 1 to 2 years after purchase. (The department does all of its own SCBA testing and repairs.)   The warranty coverage for replacements is better than the warranty provided under the refurbishing program.

 

This equipment was advertised and three bids were received.  The two other two bids received were from Bendlin Fire Equipment for $130,802.00 and from 5-Alarm Fire and Safety for $142,083.00.

 

Fiscal Impact:  $128,000 was budgeted in the 2002 and 2003 CIP budget. 

 

 

Prepared by:

 

Thomas Rosandich

Assistant Fire Chief

 

Respectfully submitted:

 

Robert L. Kufrin

City Administrator

Approved by:

 

Gerard R. Hammernik

Fire Chief

Fiscal Review:

 

Beverly A. Buretta, CMC

City Clerk