South Jacksonville weighs $200,000 purchase of ladder truck for fire department
A $200,000 used aerial truck could give South Jacksonville reach for roofs and upper floors, while trustees also weighed how to pay for fire protection.
For $200,000, South Jacksonville could add a 100-foot ladder truck that gives firefighters the reach to attack roof fires, reach upper floors and handle elevated rescues that a standard engine cannot. The South Jacksonville Board of Trustees was set to consider buying the 2002 Pierce aerial truck after the Jacksonville City Council declared it surplus.
The truck became available after Jacksonville took delivery of a new aerial fire truck, and Jacksonville Fire Chief Matt Summers said the new rig would need about a month of training before it could go into service. That left the older Pierce truck as a practical option for a smaller department that can use a still-operational apparatus without paying for a brand-new one. WLDS reported that South Jacksonville was among the area departments looking at it.
The decision sat inside a broader budget discussion in South Jacksonville. President Dick Samples had linked the truck question to wider fire service needs, including earlier talk about raising rural fire protection fees. The village’s rural fire service page lists an annual fee of $75 for residents outside the corporate limits, along with proof of insurance. South Jacksonville also has been discussing a formal fire protection district that could generate about $475,000 a year for equipment and staffing, a sign that the department’s needs are outpacing the current subscription model.
The trustees were scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 301 Dewey Drive, where the truck purchase was on the agenda. For South Jacksonville, the real question was whether a used ladder truck from Jacksonville would meaningfully change local coverage. The answer is likely yes for the village’s own first-due area, especially when crews face multi-story structures or fires that start higher than ground level. It would not turn a small department into a full-size city aerial operation, but it would give firefighters a major tool they do not have now.
If the board moves ahead, Jacksonville’s surplus will become South Jacksonville’s upgrade, shifting an apparatus that still has value into Morgan County service and giving nearby neighborhoods and businesses a quicker path to elevated fire response.
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