The Yukon government could soon inherit a Whitehorse Fire Department rescue truck.
The proposal came forward at Whitehorse city council’s Jan. 6 meeting.
The City of Whitehorse replaced the truck with a new model in December, operations manager Richard Graham, told council.
The territorial government asked about getting the older truck “to be able to bolster its fleet of available vehicles on standby for large scale incidents or multi-day urban interface operations.”
The city and territory have a long-standing cooperative relationship in protecting Yukoners, Graham said in his report to council.
“While unlikely to remain as a front line emergency response vehicle, it would be desirable for this unit to remain within the Yukon to serve as a piece of equipment available for large scale incidents,” Graham said.
Coun. Laura Cabott asked how much the city might get if it opted to sell the vehicle. Graham said it may get a few thousand dollars out of it, though the appraised value is down to $0.
| The Whitehorse Fire Department's began using this new rescue truck in December. (Dayne Jones/Whitehorse Fire Department) |
He also said the city would have to remove any equipment off the truck if it were to be sold through a public tender.
“There’s not a lot of value to the general public,” he said.
The city typically sells off its used vehicles through a tender process, but has donated some vehicles in the past. There’s been a couple of retired fire trucks that have been given to Operation Nicaragua, an initiative that provides decommissioned fire trucks, ambulances, and medical and hospital equipment to the Central American country.
A retired pickup truck and van have been donated to local non-profits and an ice resurfacer went to another community, he said.
Mayor Dan Curtis and Coun. Steve Roddick also recalled that when a city fire truck was out of commission for a period in 2019, the Yukon government loaned the city one of its tankers for several months.
“It feels kind of good,” Curtis said of potentially giving the retired rescue vehicle to the territory, noting it is a good way to repay the generosity shown by the Yukon government when the city needed a tanker.
Coun. Dan Boyd was also vocal in his support for donating the truck, pointing out that though it may not see a lot of action having it stay in the territory as backup means it will continue to provide service to Yukoners.
Council members will vote on whether to donate the rescue truck to the Yukon government Jan. 13.
Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com