Fire officials pass on all-electric fire truck

MENLO PARK >> After much fanfare from fire officials, the Menlo Park Fire District won’t be moving forward with plans to buy a new all-electric fire truck largely due to its $1.1 million price tag.

In a 3-2 vote at this week’s Board of Directors meeting, fire officials decided not to hold one of 10 slots for Austria-based Rosenbauer’s electric fire truck, which the department would have used for rescue purposes.

It was the proposed use of the truck that gave Director Chuck Bernstein pause, saying this week that he would not be able to justify buying a $1.1 million vehicle when a $75,000 pick-up truck could do the same job.

“I like the idea of the technology, but I’m concerned about the staff’s commitment to this piece of equipment,” Bernstein said. “Rescue isn’t a good test of the equipment. A couple of years ago we didn’t have any rescues. I like rescues, I’m not against them. But it should be used more than a couple times a year. This is 15 times more expensive.”

In what was a contentious board meeting with frequent back-and-forth arguments between President Virginia Chang Kiraly and other members, fire officials questioned whether putting down a deposit of $200,000 for a piece of equipment that firefighters could end up not wanting is the right thing to do.

Many board members felt rushed into a decision and did not want to move forward without the approval of front-line firefighters on the district’s apparatus committee.

But frustrated with the course of the conversation