The Palmerston tanker was taken off the road in December after it failed its certificate of fitness, leading to fears firefighting capabilities in the area were compromised. Restrictions were also placed on the use of the Waitaki and Kakanui tankers.
On Wednesday, the council's finance, audit and risk committee is expected to decide to make $100,000 available from its $581,000 rural fire depreciation reserve to have two tankers built on second-hand chassis.
They will replace the Waitaki tanker, located at Whitestone Contracting's Deborah yard, and Kakanui's, subsidised by a similar amount from the National Rural Fire Authority.
They both need urgent replacement.
The Kakanui tanker will then be reconditioned, if possible, and relocated to the Waihemo area, but whether it will be in Palmerston or another urban centre is to be decided.
The replacement Kakanui Rural Fire Party tanker will be based on a 2000 Hino chassis at an estimated cost of almost $83,000 and the Waitaki tanker on a 2007 Isuzu chassis at a cost of $96,432.
In a report prepared for the committee meeting, chief financial officer Paul Hope said the council transferred in November all its rural fire plant and equipment to the Otago Rural Fire Authority (ORFA), but the authority then identified concerns with its condition, prompting an independent review.
That led to the Palmerston tanker being taken off the road and restrictions placed on the other two.
Mr Hope said given the need to meet its obligations, the ORFA developed ''a plan to immediately address this situation''.
