Camano Fire budgets strategically to offset rising costs

Oct. 23, 2024

 

In 2007, a fire engine cost almost $400,000.

Today, fire departments pay upwards of $1,000,000 for a fire engine – and it’s not like buying a new car. From order to delivery, it can take two years or longer to get the new engine.

From apparatus replacement to fire station maintenance to fuel for fire engines, Camano Fire isn’t immune to the challenge of rising costs. The department budgets carefully to make taxpayer dollars stretch as far as possible.

Camano Fire’s oldest engine is 25 years old – but typically, our engines serve in a front-line capacity for 10 to 15 years. Each year we put an average of 19,000 miles on each engine – and after 10 years, that engine can have upwards of 200,000 miles on it.

After 10 or 15 years, we put our engines in reserve. This means they can fill in when an engine is out for maintenance and can support regional wildfires. Our high school cadet class also uses our reserve engine for training during the school year.

Keeping our engines on the front line longer also helps us save up and pay cash for a new apparatus rather than taking out a loan or asking taxpayers for more money in the form of a bond. We’re currently looking into the viability of refurbishing an engine rather than purchasing one brand new – like what we’ve done in the past with our ambulances.

Twice in the past four years, Camano Fire has completed what’s called an ambulance remount. Rather than buying a whole new apparatus, the department buys the chassis (the cab, engine, and body framework) and re-mounts the existing ambulance box on it.

“We put the mileage on the engine and the chassis – that’s what wears out. The actual ambulance box lasts much longer,” Chief Yengoyan said. “Doing a remount is faster than ordering a brand-new ambulance and cheaper. Each remount saves us upwards of $150,000.”

The equipment inside our ambulances and engines isn’t cheap either. We have five $60,000 LifePacks – one on each in-service ambulance and one on the engine. The LifePack is a key piece of equipment our paramedics use to analyze heart rhythms, deliver resuscitation shocks and collect cardiac information on patients.

Gas isn’t free, either – did you know we spend upwards of $90,000 each year on gas?

“Last year we spent more than $91,000 in fuel, a 27.5% increase from what we spent 10 years ago,” Yengoyan said. “Like many other expenses, our fuel costs increase due to inflation as well as increased call volume.”

Camano Fire keeps 15 percent of its annual operating costs in reserve and puts aside approximately $250,000 per year to pay for big-ticket expenses like ordering new apparatus or replacing lifesaving equipment. Saving money throughout the year means Camano Fire rarely goes out for bonds and regularly receives clean Accountability, Financial Statement, and Federal Grant Compliance Audits from the Washington State Auditor’s Office.