I don't understand what the fuss is about pumpers in CFS. MFS has spent the effort and money developing a good urban pumper, why doesn't CFS just tack on to their orders (in white)? Instead either the I&L staff or volunteers like Burnside members put in so much time and effort, free usually, reinventing the wheel.
How much does/did the following cost:
- an MFS pumper?
- Burnside's pumper?
- now what was the real cost of Burnside's pumper if you include all the volunteer time (and brigade fund-raised money of course)?
- Stirling pumper? (including all the repairs and volunteer time)
- refurbishing the Dennis?
- a newly designed 12 pumper type appliance? including staff time/wages writing the specs, inspections, volunteer consultation etc etc
I bet if you work out the real costs then buying white MFS pumpers would be cheaper, quicker, a lot less hassle for all concerned and result in a far better outcome for the community.
These are just hear say prices and i don't have these on paper but would be very close.
- MFS pump $400K (we could probably reduce this a touch with on 2 ba seats, just a
foam pro etc)
- Burnside pumper $500K + (not sure why, maybe coz of one off)
- Stirling $500K and still climbing (new pump being fitted)
- Dennis $would have to be 400K + by now (started at about $250k i think)
- New proto type one $pricless... hehe
Just a pity we did not get a decent dennis, our problems would have been solved long ago and we would now have spare parts and mechanics that have worked on them and would be bringing in mid 90's models by now.