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"Nothing but problems."

That's how city Fire Chief Kevin Lust describes the history of his department's two 1997 KME fire engines, based at Station No. 2 on Eden Park Boulevard.

Built with lightweight aluminum frames, the engines were purchased "off the rack" --- they were demonstrators that weren't constructed to the city's needs.

As a result, Lust says, the engines have a hard time coping with the city's narrow (often bumpy) streets, steep inclines and tight corners, leading to maintenance headaches and lots of downtime.

"You can't actually hold it against the company," Lust says, "but they're just not holding up."

City council on Wednesday by 5-0 vote approved the purchase of a new "Marauder II" from Seagrave Fire Appartus of Clintonville, Wis., at a cost of $496,932.

That price is not a typo; new fire engines generally run a half-million dollars or more.

"I always tell people that 'fire' is a four-letter word beginning with 'f,'" Lust says. "As soon as you put the word 'fire' into the description of any piece of equipment, the cost goes way up."

City officials say the timing of the fire engine purchase is unfortunate (nine people were laid off in December) but that it's been in the works for 18 months.

The Seagrave, to be delivered in about a year, will be custom-built to the city's specifications and replace one of the KME engines. The other would remain as a backup.

The deal was handled by Premier Emergency Equipment of Penn Township, Westmoreland County.

The purchase will be funded by grants, city officials said; that grant money cannot be used for salaries.

And the Seagrave pumper will not be a "parade queen" with fancy paint and trim designed to win contests. "It's not an unattractive engine, as far as that goes, but there won't be any 'bells and whistles,'" Mayor Jim Brewster says.

It won't sit still much, either. According to reports from Lust's office, city firefighters generally respond to between 80 and 100 calls every month. In December, crews responded to 77 calls, including eight structure fires.

Two of those fires involved fatalities and one was a conflagration fed by paint and toxic chemicals at the Ziebart auto body shop on Eden Park Boulevard.

The purchase is the product of more than a year of study by a planning committee of city firefighters.

"They had to prove their case to the administration," Brewster says.

The city's next fire equipment purchase should be a new river rescue boat, the mayor says, calling the existing craft a glorified "fishing boat."

"We protect 200 slips at the marina and two rivers," Brewster says. "We need a professional river rescue boat."

Meanwhile, Lust would like to find a home for the city's 1974 Mack-Baker aerial truck, which was retired several years ago. Although the drivetrain is obsolete, the chief says the aerial boom is still functional and could be mated to a newer truck chassis.