With two Parksville Volunteer Fire Department support vehicles up for renewal this year, the department reviewed the most suitable type and recommend sticking with their full-size multi-purpose pickups.
Asked by city councillor Bill Neufeld if they considered other options like electric vehicles, chief administrative officer Fred Manson said they routinely do cost/benefit analysis for the entire fleet and are still at least three to five years away from electric vehicles being cost effective.
“Other than a display of support for electric vehicles, it is not economically viable for us to purchase them yet.”
He added they study the decreasing trade-in value versus the increasing maintenance costs and still find it is most economic to trade-in every five years.
The report from staff reviewed the use of the basic multi-use pickups over some other form of more specialized single-purpose vehicle for conducting safety inspections.
Breaking down the pros and cons, the city staff report concludes that the pickups have “served the department well over past years … (and have) a proven track record,” that enables many activities from acting as a command post to carrying crew to emergency scenes and training locations among others.
Parksville city council unanimously supported the recommendation, leaving it to staff to make the final decision on the vehicle replacements.