TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo City Council is set to vote on an upgrade to the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department's engines on April 4 after discussing it at Tuesday's agenda review.
TFRD is asking council for $364,000 to upgrade its Automated Vehicle Locating Systems, which allows the department to know where all engines are at all times so the closest vehicle possible will be sent out when there's a fire.
It's a much-needed upgrade, TFRD's Deputy Chief of Operations, Bryce Blair, said. He said the current system is aging to the point of failure, impacting response times.
When dispatchers try to call on TFRD engines, a third of the department's sixteen vehicles are unable to be located because the AVL systems are broken after years of use.
"Without that working, it just assumes you're at the station. And then they have to ask if you're on the road, where are you at?" Blair said. "The whole idea behind this is it's an immediate dispatch."
This roundabout way of contacting the engines has started impacting how quickly crews can respond to runs.
"In some cases, it might only be seconds; in some cases, it's minutes. And then depending on the type of emergency run, minutes matter," Blair said.
A new AVL system has already been successfully tested and used by TPD.
TFRD wants in on the tech too, but with one hurdle: getting the price tag past council.
"The idea of the $364,000 -- which is obviously not cheap -- is that there is a significant benefit to the citizens and the community to be able to get to the closest rig on that run," Blair said.
But he expects it to pass given TFRD's essential function.
"It is part of best industry standards," Blair said. "So it would be tough for Toledo to turn a blind eye and say 'we'll just go with a 50-60-year-old method," Blair said.
But AVL technology already known to degrade, WTOL 11 asked Blair, if the city should prepare to buy it again every ten years.
"Hopefully we don't have to spend this another ten years from now, but I think we all know Windows 7 becomes Windows 10, etc.," he said. "Which isn't to say this is planned obsolescence, but yes, there likely will be a better technology 10-12 years from now."