The Chadron (NE) Volunteer Fire Department provides fire suppression, rescue and emergency medical services (EMS) to a 650-square mile district in the northwestern part of Nebraska, in the foothills south of the state’s Black Hills. The town of Chadron has 6,000 residents, a population that is added to by 1,000 people daily in the town’s three colleges.
Brandon Martens, Chadron’s chief, notes that the department’s 50 volunteer firefighters responded to 550 calls last year, 40 of them fires of one sort or another, using two Type 1 engines, one aerial ladder, three tenders (tankers), five Type 6 brush trucks, several UTVs (utility terrain vehicles), command pickup trucks, and two ambulances. Martens says the department wanted to get a new rescue truck and turned to Danko Emergency Equipment Company to build the rig.
Dave Knobbe, apparatus salesman for Danko, says that Chadron has been a longtime customer of Danko that provides structure and wildland fire suppression, rescue and EMS services to a wide area. “The department needed a rescue unit that could get into a wide array of different terrain,” Knobbe says. “They were replacing a quick-attack vehicle with a small rescue, and we worked with them to custom fit out the truck to handle their needs.” Wheelbase on the rescue is 169 inches, overall length is 24 feet 3 inches, and overall height is 8 feet 1 inch.
Mark Kreikemeier, Danko’s president, says the rescue that Danko built for Chadron is on a Ford F-550 Super Duty chassis and two-door cab with a 6-foot 7 high rescue body that’s powered by a Power Stroke 6.7-liter 4V OHV V-8 turbo engine. Kreikemeier points out that the rescue has a cascade air system with four 6,000-psi (pounds per square inch) bottles, a MECC ALTE S 20W 6.5-kilowatt generator, a Command Light KL403D light tower, and custom roll-out trays and compartmentation.
Martens says that Chadron had Danko build the rescue with the first compartment as a transverse. “It has center-depth trays that hold a Stokes basket, backboard, hosed hydraulic tools, air bags, base plates for our rescue struts, and a tool board,” he says. “We also are carrying three new HURST Jaws of Life® eDraulic® battery-powered hydraulic tools, including a spreader, a cutter and a ram. Danko also was able to customize what each compartment on the truck holds for us, and mounted some tool brackets in the rig.”
Knobbe points out that the Chadron rescue has a Command Light tower, a Kussmaul Auto Power 3000 inverter that allows the department to continue to charge handheld equipment on a fire scene, a Warn 12,00-pound winch mounted at the front of the rig, and hatch compartments on top of the rig for additional storage, including a Little Giant ladder.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Ariz.-based journalist, the author of three novels and five non-fiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment editorial advisory board. He served 22 years with Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including the position of chief.
