BonDeCroft Fire Truck In Need Of Repairs

White County Commissioners are considering avenues to help the BonDeCroft Volunteer Fire Department replace a water pump on the department’s fire truck.

White County Emergency Manager Matt McBride said the pump is out of service due to wear and tear. McBride said the truck is a 2001 model and that finding parts for the truck is almost impossible. McBride said in the worst-case scenario repairing the pumper would cost at least $30,000. That means the repairs would need to go through the bid process.

“Putting that out for official bid is very hard to do because to get the truck down to let’s say Nashville it’s not drivable,” McBride said. “It’s going to have to be hauled the driveshaft is out of it and part of the pump is out of it right now, to send that down there and let a company look at it let’s say they come back at $32,000, we are a little bit stuck in between a rock and a hard place because now the truck is now torn apart in somebody’s shop and then we got to get an official bid on it.”

McBride advised commissioners that a former BonDeCroft firefighter had bought a wrecked fire truck and was willing to sell the pump for $1,500. BonDeCroft Fire Chief Shannon Smith said the county would be taking a risk as the warranty would not cover it due to it being a used pump.

“Shannon’s big concern was and I get it, we don’t want to use a pump because we are afraid in two weeks it might go bad,” McBride said. “Well that’s true and they asked about a warranty on this and you are not going to get a warranty.”

Commissioner Roger Mason said he thinks it is a good idea to purchase the spare pump as in the event it is not needed, they could have it on hand for spare parts. Commissioner Chris Brewington said he wanted the pump to be checked out by a professional before buying it.

“I don’t want to spend $1,500 on an old pump and it’s not been professionally looked at,” Brewington said. “I want somebody who knows a little bit about pumps and can actually hook that pump up to something and try that pump out before we get it.”

The proposal of purchasing the used pump will come in before the commission in a future meeting.