WOOD HEIGHTS – Whether Wood Heights Fire Department will have equipment that continues to work when needed is up to voters Tuesday.

They will vote Proposition A up or down.

Approval means paying $57 more per year for a house valued at $100,000, $85.50 more for a house valued at $150,000 or $114 more for a house valued at $200,000. Numbers are based on Prop A’s proposed 30-cent property tax increase.

Fire Chief Lee O’Dell outlined what the voters would receive in exchange for their money.

“We can replace trucks, equipment,” he said March 26. “The cost of equipment and trucks rises quicker than our budget.”

The department’s newest vehicle is a 16-year-old Freightliner, O’Dell said. The pumper’s age fails to meet National Fire Protection Agency standards.

“NFPA standards say that, after 10 years, you’re supposed to put it into ‘reserve,’ and then you can have it in reserve for 10 years,” he said, but that is not the situation for Wood Heights.

The older the equipment gets, the more mechanical work is needed. In some cases, replacement parts are difficult or impossible to find, O’Dell said.

“For some of our trucks, we have to go to a specialized place to even be able to find parts and equipment for it,” he said. “One of them is a 1974 military truck and those parts are becoming obsolete completely, so as things break and we can’t find them, that truck’s out of service.”

2005 Freightliner parts remain available for the time being.

“But we’re trying to think ahead to the short-term future, when they’re not going to be readily available,” O’Dell said. “Those parts are going to be obsolete before too long.”

Another consideration is trade-in value. As the Freight liner and other vehicles continue aging, trade-in dollars decline.

“The amount of value that we’re going to get out of them is not anywhere near a regular car trade in. So, the 16-year-old truck, on a trade in, we may get $20,000 out of it versus replacing it, which is close to $500,000 to $700,000 for a truck and new equipment,” O’Dell said.

A pumper costs that much because the vehicle must meet specific fire safety standards. They include “911 seats” that contain air packs, an electronic monitoring system, equipment compartment and a special chassis for the pump. The pump alone costs around $50,000 before installation, O’Dell said.

“That’s how the price racks up pretty quickly,” he said.

Without money, trucks and equipment could be idled at a critical time, he said.

“If something goes out of service and the parts are either obsolete or the cost is too great to fix, it jeopardizes us because then we won’t be able to replace it,” O’Dell said.

The proposed increase does not come close to the value Wood Heights residents get from the 21 volunteer firefighters who serve the community.

“If we had to pay personnel for 24- hour coverage 365 days a year, you’re looking between the $450,000 and $500,000 range,” O’Dell said, adding that cost would be assessed year in and year out.

Volunteers charge nothing to help when needed, he said, but they need equipment to serve the community.

“If we don’t have the equipment, it jeopardizes the public safety,” O’Dell said.

The department’s fire-fighting capability depends on the public, he said.

“We hope the citizens help us help them, basically, by approving the levee so we can better protect the citizens and their property,” O’Dell said.