Cypress Fire looks to future with fleet replacement plan
By ANNA SMITH on May 9, 2024.
asmith@medicinehatnews.com In keeping with a desire to have Cypress Emergency Services in the best shape to deal with calls, the county approved the new Fire Fleet Replacement Plan this week. The plan looks long term at the next five years, said Jason Linton, director of emergency services. “We’re making sure we have the right equipment, right apparatus for what we’re doing. And for what calls for service are,” said Linton. He explained the apparatuses are generally on a 20-year replacement cycle, as per recommendations from the National Fire Protection Association. Under the insurance policy, a truck’s lifespan could be extended to 25 years, but after this, the rate could increase, which Linton has taken into consideration as the county drafted the plan. It was proposed that three vehicles need to be replaced or repurposed, primarily the Elkwater Engine, the Walsh Engine and Dunmore Engine 1A. Linton put forward an option to move the Dunmore Engine to Elkwater, move the current engine in Elkwater to Walsh and put the Walsh engine to Auction. The Dunmore engine will be replaced with a midsized rescue truck. One of the biggest gaps in the county is rescue, said Linton, so these changes would help fill needed gaps in the fleet. “We’ve always been lucky. We’ve always made do, but there are definitely gaps in our fleet and we were looking at what type of calls we have and how we’re doing, and having a midsize rescue would be advantageous to our fleet.” The funds received from the sale of the Walsh unit would be used to purchase two Wildland units, designed to answer to the county’s most common calls. “The units are a very superior piece of apparatus especially for what we do, which is often wildland firefighting,” said Linton. The agenda item also included the purchase of a new water tender, which would utilize an existing county chassis from the public works fund. 13-12
