It finally happened.
Manteca’s aging fire engine fleet, with its history of frequent breakdowns, had an engine stop running while responding to a medical emergency call Wednesday.
It was the 2008 aerial fire truck stationed at Powers Avenue.
The engine broke down on a Yosemite Avenue responding to a medical emergency at El Rancho Mobile Home Park roughly a mile away.
A second engine over two miles away had to be dispatched from the Louise Avenue station.
Not only did it have to travel farther, but it significantly delayed the response to the 9-1-1 call.
Manteca was lucky this time.
No one died.
Fire engines breaking down are not good.
The particular engine in question has broken down “a dozen or so times” in the past 12 months according to a frontline firefighter.
The other times it simply wouldn’t start when it was going through a daily inspection or it had developed major problems that sidelined it for days or even weeks.
The situation forced the department to put its new $1.8 million Pierce tractor drawn fire truck into service before they completed department-wide training with it.
The truck played a critical role in helping contain a problematic house fire Friday where hoarding issues made it difficult to put it out. Being able to attack the fire with the platform truck along with the rest of the apparatus was critical.
It underscores what firefighters who put their lives on the line day in and day out protecting lives and property have been saying for at least 33 years, if not longer.
The forced penny pinching created by Manteca’s perennial dog paddling to keep its proverbial financial head above water is hampering firefighters’ ability to deploy their skills in an optimum manner to do the jobs they were hired to do.
Do not misunderstand.
Firefighters are doing the best they can do with what they have.
So far so good.
Data, however, based on call volume and such, shows Manteca more often than not is skating on thin ice.
Firefighters need reliable engines that are taken off of frontline service after 10 years.
With a sixth station that should have been built four years ago to serve close to 2,000 homes in southwest Manteca outside of the optimum five-minute response time, that means the city needs to be in a financial situation to buy two engines now costing $1.1 million apiece every three years.
In the past four or so years, the situation has actually approved somewhat.
That’s because the city has taken delivery of an extensively used fire engine from a Bay Area department that deemed it no longer was wise to keep it in frontline service to protect their city.
The aging second-hand fire engine was roughly half the age and in better shape than a frontline engine it has replaced in Manteca.
That’s right.
A growing city of 92,000 is relying on the ability to scrounge used engines to protect life and property.
It’s working to a degree but keep in mind the “new” older fire engines have already racked up significant mileage meaning major maintenance issues are around the bend.
A second used fire engine is in the process of being secured.
Manteca’s five frontline fire engines are between 2 and 10 years old. That represents $11 million in replacement needs over the next decade that then starts all over again.
The five backup engines includes one that is — and others that are —pushing 20 years of age. They often replace older frontline engines when they are taken out of service for growing maintenance issues.
So how has it gotten better?
Go back 10 years and beyond Manteca, instead of buying a new fire engine based on need every two years did so every six to seven years,
Fire engines take upwards of four years to take delivery of once they are ordered.
Manteca is scheduled to take delivery of two in 2026 that they have locked in a price but haven’t identified how they will be paid for.
In recent years, the city has used strategies such as dipping into Measure M public safety tax receipts to pay for equipment.
It is allowed under the voter approved measure but the best use of that money is helping plug frontline public safety personnel funding shortfalls.
Leases, which reduce the annual cost to stretch what money is available but increases the amount spent, have been used.
And so has repurposing other departments’ discarded fire engines.
The city should have already ordered two more engines to take delivery of by 2028 when they will be needed.
Municipal leaders haven’t done so because they are having a difficult time coming up with ways to pay for the two Manteca is taking delivery of in 2026.
None of this includes an engine needed for the sixth fire station that needs to be built.
Vehicle and equipment issues aren’t just limited to the fire department.
It is citywide.
In recent years, Manteca Police officers starting their shifts have discovered patrol units wouldn’t start prompting a scramble to secure another vehicle.
It even has gone as far as officers needing to double up in a unit because no working patrol unit was available.
That proportionally reduces the department’s ability to cover the city.
The tapping into one-time grants such as the CHP’s cut of state marijuana revenue as well as forfeitures from criminal activities have helped address police vehicle issues somewhat.
However, such funding is spotty at best.
The sad state of the city’s street maintenance equipment didn’t matter for years as persistent budget shortfalls took the better part of a dozen years to restore the labor force that was decimated by eight positions in 2010 cuts triggered by the Great Recession.
For years, staffing allowed only the bare minimum to be done.
As manpower was restored to allow in-house maintenance of more complex pavement issues, the city either didn’t have the proper equipment or it was so old it kept breaking down. In some cases, parts were no longer manufactured.
Credit city use of one-time federal pandemic funds for securing equipment for the streets crew to do more effective jobs.
Similar equipment issues have plagued park maintenance.
And that is just the equipment and facility issues the city has been forced to pinch pennies, apply the equivalent of baling wire and Band-Aids, or keep their fingers crossed.
The existing police station, besides being woefully inadequate in terms of space, had mechanical systems approaching 50 years that are in dire need of replacement.
Then there are issues such as the basic security of the police department that is beyond being inadequate.
Measure Q, the proposed three-quarter cent sales tax with a 20-year limit on the Nov. 5 ballot, is designed to address those issues and more.
The “more” is additional major street work, leveraging needed facilities, and increased public safety staffing.
If passed, the measure will generate $13 million annually.
On the local level, you get government services you pay for.
Vote how you must.
But don’t act surprised if you call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency and the responding fire engine breaks down before it reaches you or if there is one less police unit patrolling the streets on any given day.
This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
