MERCER AREA — The 87-year-old East End Volunteer Fire Department may shut its doors Dec. 31 due to a lack of funding. At the center of the money crunch is one big piece of equipment –– a new fire engine.

The department uses a 23-year-old engine for large structure fires, which Fire Chief William Finley Jr. said is potentially unreliable –– a hazard to residents and firefighters.

Councilman John Zoranacky said the borough has balked at the price of the new tanker –– expected to be bought with annual $58,000 payments –– because they want to wait on a January audit to show whether it’s needed.

“The only way they would have that shortfall is if they went out and bought the truck,” Zoranacky said. Mercer agreed to cover any other increases in the department’s budget.

To buy the tanker, Mercer, Coolspring, Findley and East Lackawannock townships would need to cough up about 0.75 mills of tax. That works out to about $13.50 more on local tax bills for the median Mercer-area home this year.

Coolspring Supervisor Robert McGhee said they increased taxes 1 mill last year and wouldn’t do it again. Mercer council is wary of tax increases during the tough economy, Mayor Steven Van Woert has said.

If the municipalities don’t provide the money, Finley has said the department will stop providing services at midnight Dec. 31 to avoid going into the red. He said the truck is a necessity. Without it, he argued that residents’ and firefighters’ lives are in danger.

The old engine is already two years past its replacement date, he said, and council promised to work on getting a new one in 2008. On waiting another year, he said he’s heard that tune before.

Waiting for January will be too late to raise the necessary money for a tanker this year through a tax increase, since the budget must be finished by December.

That’s unintentional, Zoranacky said, and January is the first time someone from the state can come in to examine the fire department’s needs.

Zoranacky said he respects the firefighters and other public servants who put their lives at risk, but that East End wants their budget approved as is, truck included.

“To boil the whole issue down, it’s over a new truck,” Zoranacky said. “And even then, the municipalities have said, ‘We realize you probably need one, but let’s wait a year. Tell us what you need to get it through another year and we’ll have it looked at.’ ”

There are safety concerns with using an old pumping truck, Finley said. “I don’t know that the thing’s going to last another year. Could we possibly get another couple months out of it? Maybe. But it’s definitely day to day, month to month.”

For now, there are air leaks forming in the pump and water leaks in the tank, Finley said. The chief concern, though, is possible mechanical failure in the engine or pump during an emergency.

If the truck doesn’t start and it takes firefighters 10 minutes to get out of the station, Finley said, it could spell disaster. He noted that if the pump gives out at the scene of the fire, it puts firefighters’ lives at risk.

A water shortage caused by frozen hydrants may have contributed to the death of Pine Township volunteer firefighter Bradley Holmes in February, Finley said. An official government report on the incident is due in January.

“But I’m not going to be the one to go to someone’s wife or mother to tell them someone died because we had a 23-year-old fire truck that didn’t work. I just refuse to be put in that position,” Finley said.

Sharon Fire Chief Terrence Whalen said 20 years is about the life of most engines, though some make it to 30 years depending on use. Pumpers get used more than most engines because they tend to go on every call, he said.

Sharon is getting a pumper to replace their 1988 vehicle this year, paid for mostly with grant money.

Whalen said it also helps to have more than one pumper on scene, in case of unforeseen events like mechanical failure. Mercer has only one pumper for structure fire-sized blazes, Finley said.

There are also mutual aid agreements between volunteer fire departments in Mercer County so that multiple pumpers show up at structure fires, Whalen said.

Finley said in East End’s case, they’ll likely be first on scene in the municipalities they serve, and a truck failure could set back response time and still endanger a firefighter.

“You’re looking at the length of time the fire has to burn,” he said. “It’s going to be a much more dangerous fire. Heaven forbid (the pump) gives out while a guy’s in the fire.”