January 1, 2004

Fire Department’s New Rescue Unit Ready To Roll

While they didn’t have to unwrap the present it was just like getting a new toy for Christmas for a lot of the local volunteer firemen when the Scotland County Fire Department’s new Rescue truck was unveiled at a special meeting Sunday, December 21.

The new truck was brought on line after the meeting. Firemen spent the evening transferring the rescue equipment from the old truck, into the new model.

The new unit was specifically designed to handle a wide variety of equipment. The truck will house the department’s Jaws of Life vehicle extrication equipment as well as a large number of other tools used at automobile accidents.

The truck also carries a number of extra air bottles for the firemen’s air packs. A pair of special carriers were constructed, each with slots for eight air bottles.

All of that is stored in just three of the truck’s six bays. Other storage holds the K-12 saw, chainsaw and other cutting tools and accessories. The department’s various hand tools take up another bay with still more room for future storage.

These items had previously filled the old rescue unit beyond capacity making it somewhat difficult to access the needed equipment. The new unit is much more user friendly, with roll up doors on each bay, complete with labeling to indicate which tools are in which bay.

The new rescue truck was a joint effort by the City of Memphis and the Scotland County Fire Corporation at a cost of just under $38,000. The unit features a GMC chassis with a Mickey bed. The latter was completed locally after the storage designs were made by the fire department rescue truck committee headed by Carl and Randy Trueblood.