MFD sells last of 3 lemons

The Maricopa City Council approved tonight the sale of a fire engine for $211,000 to the community of Sooke, British Columbia, Canada.

The truck is the last of three E-One fire engines purchased by the Maricopa Fire District in 2006 for $432,352 each through a dealer called Frontier Emergency Products.

The first two E-One rescue pumpers were sold in June to the Bristol Bay borough in Alaska, and the council approved the purchase of two new Pierce fire rescue pumpers for $768,000 at its July 19 regular meeting. Fire Chief Wade Brannon said tonight the department plans to buy a third fire truck next year.

Wade said the E-Ones had a good design, but were prone to break downs because of the dust and heat.

He said they should run fine in Canada and Alaska, where the weather is much cooler.

Brannon added the city was lucky to sell them, because there is not much of a market for used fire trucks.

Within three years of their delivery to the Maricopa Fire Department in 2007, the engines failed in all three of E-one trucks.

The trucks were bought with a lease-to-own finance agreement, and the city still owes $207,800 on the remaining truck.

As part of the E-One's sale to Sooke, the city must pay a broker fee of 3.8 percent, or $8,026.

Though the city will take a $4,600 loss on the sale, the difference will be paid from the $39,320 that is budgeted annually on the 10-year lease agreement.

One year after the trucks were purchased, Frontier severed its relationship with E-One, leaving E-One without a local warranty service center or manufacturer’s representative until 2008.

Thirteen months after the trucks were delivered, the first Cummins diesel motor failed from dust and dirt that got in through the air filtration system. The motor had only 16,000 miles but required a complete overhaul.

Left without local dealer support, the MFD was forced to work with a local Cummins dealer and the E-One warranty service representatives in Ocala, Fla.

After several months of discussion, MFD proved the engine had been properly maintained and Cummins paid the claim.

About 18 months after the first engine failed, a second Cummins diesel motor failed at 29,000 miles.

Though Cummins and E-One agreed MFD was not responsible for the breakdown, both companies blamed each other for the engine failure and refused to pay the claim.

After several months Cummins proposed a settlement agreement that divided payment of the $14,000 claim between itself, E-One and the city. The city, however, refused to agree to the settlement because it would have required waiving its right to future claims against Cummins and did not address the underlying cause of the engine failures.

In February 2010, the third engine failed and was towed to a Cummins service center.

Again, the problem was found to be dust in the motor. After the third engine failure, MPD added radios and communication equipment to an older fire truck that was being used exclusively for training and placed the truck into service as a reserve to maintain service to the community.

The E-one trucks also were prone to overheating.

The sale of the truck to the Canadian fire department is “as-is” with no written or implied warranty.