Decorah Fire Department wants to buy a $900,000 aerial ladder truck from Indianola

Indianola aerial fire truck (partially obscured on the right)

Decorah Fire Department Chief Mike Ashbacher appeared before members of the Decorah City Council on Monday to outline a proposal to buy an aerial ladder truck being sold by the Indianola Fire Department.

The 2011 Rosenbauer 115 foot long fire truck went into service in Indianola in 2012.  It has 28,000 miles on it and 1,500 hours of use.

Several members of the Decorah Fire Department and City Council member Charles Lore visited Indianola earlier this month and concluded, "There appear to be many advantages to this truck."  The price tag is $600,000 lower than the price of a similar new truck.  The Indianola truck has five years remaining on several warranties.  The truck is also similar to many other trucks currently owned by the Decorah Fire Department.

Decorah City Council members were also impressed, but their big question is, "How will we pay for this?"  City council member Gary Rustad pointed out that Winneshiek County and Luther College both made contributions in 1999 when Decorah purchased its existing aerial ladder truck.

The scheduled city council meeting interrupted the committee meeting about the fire truck purchase, but council members indicated they would hold a future committee meeting to further discuss funding of the purchase.