ENFIELD — Fire Chief Fred Cummings is recommending that the town buy a new rescue pumper that would cost at least $545,000, using money from Enfield’s capital improvement plan.

If purchased, the rescue pumper would replace Fire Engine 4, which has been on the road since 1989, and Enfield’s rescue truck.

Cummings said via email that the plan “makes the most sense from both an operational as well as a fiscal standpoint.”

The National Fire Protection Agency recommends that any fire engine more than 25 years old be replaced. Enfield’s 31-year-old fire engine lacks adequate storage space for equipment, is difficult to drive, has electrical issues and “isn’t in great shape,” Cummings said.

The fire chief also has suggested taking the cab and chassis from the existing rescue truck and remounting it with the town forestry truck’s pump and tank.

Cummings in late November told members of Enfield’s Capital Improvement Plan Committee that he had received at least four different cost estimates for the new rescue-pumper, with prices that ranged from $545,000 to “well over $600,000.”

The main tension between the committee and the fire chief revolves around the possibility of receiving a grant through a federal “assistance to firefighters” program, administered annually through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The grant could bring up to $500,000 in assistance for the purchase of the new firetruck, although the application period for this year has not yet begun.

Town Manager Ryan Aylesworth said in a phone interview that there is an ongoing discussion within the Selectboard about whether to wait to pursue the grant before replacing Engine 4 or whether it should purchase the replacement now.

“Deliberations in the CIP committee recognize the importance of public safety in the community and that will be the driving consideration,” Aylesworth said, “but obviously cost is a factor.”

He also noted that the expenditure will not come out of the operating budget.

Although, Cummings said, he agrees with the need to apply for the federal grant, he said the money for the pumper should come out of the capital budget now. If the FEMA grant came through, he would like to see that money go toward replacing Enfield’s Engine 5, which has been in use for 20 years.

Although refurbishment of that firetruck is still an option, Cummings said, the estimated cost is roughly equal to the cost of the engine when it was new.

An independent fire apparatus expert confirmed in a report that Engine 5 needs significant work on its body, pump, and electrical systems. This work could be complicated by the fact that the manufacturer of fire engine went out of business in 2014.

And the longer Engine 4 is not replaced, the greater the burden on Engine 5, Cummings said.

“I don’t think that replacing Engine 4 should hinge on a grant because if we don’t get it the first time around we’re then another year behind. I will work diligently with the town manager to get a grant because it could be used to replace Engine 5,” Cummings said.

He stressed the urgency of replacing Engine 4 because it has been due for replacement for five years and because it would take another year for the new engine to arrive.

Both Cummings and Aylesworth said there was reason to believe in the possibility of the grant because it has often been used to help smaller fire departments and because the Enfield Fire Department has received funding to upgrade its equipment in years past.

Cummings acknowledged that his proposal carries a cost. But he argued that his plan to combine the functions of Engine 4 and Enfield’s current rescue truck into one pumper will save the cost of replacing the rescue truck in later years. And he believes that equipment replacement was one of the main purposes of the capital plan in the first place.

Cummings noted that he served on the Selectboard when the capital improvement plan was created.

“As a taxpayer, I share the concerns of everyone in town. I don’t like the idea of my taxes going up either. But this purchase, and other fire apparatus scheduled to be replaced after it, have been in the Capital Improvement Plan all along,” he said.

Rohan Chakravarty can be reached at rchakravarty@vnews.com.