Jackson Fire Department to present $5 million lease proposal to city council

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Jackson Fire Department is prepared to present a $5 million lease purchase program proposal to the city council that will allow them to replace seven pieces of fire apparatus.

“When you say the term lease, it automatically leads folks to believe that we’re leasing these trucks and that we will be turning them back in at the end of the lease. This lease is structured such that we will make 10 annual payments and at the end of that ten years, the trucks will be ours,” said Deputy Chief Don Friddle.

Essentially, this is a financing program that allows the Jackson Fire Department to be creative with their budget, and also to stick within the means of their current budget. They are not asking for an increase of their budget.

“We can make this work with funds that we already have allocated to the department, which is highly beneficial to everybody, especially in the environment that we’re in today,” Friddle said.

Friddle says many people may not know, but a new fire truck can range from an average of $500,000 to over a million dollars, so he says this funding is much needed for the fire department.

“People don’t understand the cost that’s involved in this, and it’s not like we could just run right out and get us another truck,” Friddle said. “You know, we have to plan for this and the whole lease purchase program has been worked on for the last six months.”

Friddle says the life expectancy for a truck is about 15 years, and they have eight apparatus that are exceeding that 15 year mark. They have had several breakdowns with their trucks already and fear it will one day affect a service call.

The JFD is prepared to present this proposal to the city council on October 6.