During last week’s Village Council meeting, Key Biscayne Fire Chief Joe Fernandez addressed the signing of an extended one-year automatic aid agreement with the City of Miami for mutual services assistance.
Fernandez said the pact actually acts as “a full services contract” that is beneficial to the Village when it comes time not only to get emergency fire-rescue assistance, but also help with acquiring supplies, etc.
“This is a very valuable contract,” Village Manager Steve Williamson said. “It gives us the opportunity to value what’s tangible and intangible, the response, the vehicles they provide. When we do go back to renegotiate (the agreement in 2027), we will understand the real value.”
Fernandez also spoke about a “national apparatus crisis” that’s been going on for 10 years, with just three major players now commanding the supply chain for fire-rescue apparatus.
“The time has increased (since post-Covid) between 2- and 3-fold; where it used to take 12 and 18 months, now it’s 4-5 years (to get a truck),” he said. “Attorneys are involved and it’s being looked at, at the Congressional level.”
For example, eight months have been added to the department’s request for two new rescue trucks, “so now they’ll arrive after 38 months,” since the request was first submitted, Fernandez said.
“It’s not only us; the City of Miami also is affected,” he added, noting that Miami’s fire department has lent trucks to the Village when one was inoperable.
Looking ahead, Fernandez cautioned, is the Village’s fire-suppression truck, which is four years away from its “front-line” service time of 12 years.
“We’re talking about five years to get (a new one),” said Fernandez, who said he’d like to get that request in sooner than later.