ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council on Monday finalized an audit on the state of the city's fire fleet, voting unanimously to accept the report that had laid out how vehicles are being used "beyond their lifecycles."
The audit, which was first presented to the city earlier this month, found that as of January this year, nearly a third of fire apparatus were beyond their lifecycles. Most service vehicles have a service lifespan of about 15 years, according to an Atlanta Fire Rescue Department fleet update provided in conjunction with the audit.
That more recent update showed of the fleet's 32 fire engines, four are past 15 years of service and another 10 are at 11-15 years of service. There are 18 engines at 0-10 years of service.
The fleet update also shows there are zero tractor drawn aerial vehicles with less than five years of service.
The audit report, which you can find at the bottom of this page, found lags in funding and purchasing new vehicles. The fleet update shows 10 vehicle purchases have been made this year between the Downtown and Airport fleets, of which seven have yet to be delivered. Among those purchases, three were either frontline engines or trucks or support vehicles for those engines and trucks. One frontline engine and one frontline tractor drawn aerial are due for delivery in late 2025 and early 2026.
One frontline engine and one reserve engine were also purchased in 2022 and delivered in the last year, while a frontline tractor drawn aerial was purchased in May 2022 and is due for delivery this December, delayed from an initial projected delivery of April 2024. Another fire engine, reserve engine and tractor drawn aerial support truck were all purchased in 2023 and are due for delivery this year.
The audit notes that the lead time for a fire apparatus purchase is 3-4 years.
The audit also found some maintenance lags, on about 18% of apparatuses, and issues with turnover in the fire shop. The audit made 10 recommendations, which the fire service agreed with and planned to complete across the next several months.
See the audit below:
AFRD fleet update:
