The condition of Pittsburgh's fleet of fire engines should be a matter of much concern for the Gainey administration. We learned a few days ago from Pittsburgh Fire Fighters Local 1 President Ralph Sicuro roughly half of the engines have reached the end of their 10-year service lives.
This was breaking news on the Big K Morning Show.
Replacing 13 engines at a cost of 1 million dollars each is twice as much as the city plans to spend this year on ALL vehicles and equipment like police cruisers and plow trucks. Sadly, the 2023 budget has Pittsburgh spending about half as much on vehicles compared to last year. And it would be fair to say there wasn't enough investment on new engines during the Peduto administration.
Like the situation Downtown, this is another example of the neglect and misplaced priorities of our elected leaders.
The Bureau of Fire has provided the mayor's office with a report on the matter.
We hope it sets off an alarm.
Having well maintained fire engines is a matter of life and death.
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