Nashville City Council approves purchase of air packs for fire department

The Nashville City Council has voted to purchase 13 new air packs for the fire department.  Much of Monday’s April council meeting was spent discussing the purchase, along with other fire department topics, that also included an ongoing ISO audit to see if insurance rates can be lowered for city residents.  Fire Chief Justin Thornton said the department is in need of the air packs, due to the current supplier having quit manufacturing the units.  Thornton said it is becoming increasingly difficult to find parts in order to repair the air packs.

Some of the current units are approaching  25 years of service.  Two bids for the purchase were received.  The Council voted to go with the low bid of $97,559 dollars.   The units are being bought with some of the city’s federal Covid-19 funds.

Before any additional improvements are made for the fire department, Mayor Billy Ray Jones and a couple of the council members expressed an interest in seeing a report on the ISO audit as to what items can be purchased to lower the rating.  Chief Thornton told council members the air packs would not factor in on determining a possible ISO improvement.  He said the air packs are strictly needed for the safety of firemen.