Moving toward a year-end transition of fire and emergency medical services in Fountain Hills, the Town Council approved separate contracts totaling $315,000 to replace equipment currently owned and supplied by Rural/Metro Corp., which is currently the contractor for those services in Town.

One contact is a cooperative purchase agreement with L.N. Curtis and Sons and is through the Sourcewell Group Purchasing Cooperative in the amount of $250,000. That agreement will provide for the personal protection equipment for firefighters. This includes turnout gear and wildland firefighting equipment.

In his report to the Town Council Fire Chief Dave Ott said Sourcewell is a competitive contract with about 20 vendors submitting for inclusion.

“This equipment is necessary to help provide for health and safety of the Town residents, visitors and firefighters,” Ott said.

The average serviceable life of the PPE is seven to 10 years, according to Ott.

The second contract is also a cooperative purchase agreement, this one through SHI International Corp. for the purchase of new computers and associated equipment for mounting into the fire apparatus. This contract is for $65,000. Ott said SHI International is also a member of the Sourcewell cooperative. The pricing includes warranty and extended warranty for the computers.

“Non-computerized systems within fire vehicles greatly impacts response times and the safety of residents,” Ott said.

Both agreement totals are “not to exceed” with the possibility actual costs would be less.

Last year the Town Council voted to discontinue the Town’s long relationship with Rural/Metro and move fire and emergency medical services to an in-house, Town-managed system. The target date to complete the transition is the end of this calendar year, although Rural/Metro has allowed for an additional six months to assure a complete and smooth transition.

These contracts were included on the council’s consent agenda and were approved without discussion.