With area fire crews responding to so many fires in recent weeks and a red flag warning in effect into the late night hours on Thursday, area listeners are reminded to be cautious when outdoors and especially in areas with tall grass.
Valentine Volunteer Fire Chief Terry Engels also stated to KVSH News that keeping all those firefighting rigs on the road and in the field is not cheap. He says fire trucks are expensive and high maintenance. Other than watching the miles and hours that are put on the rigs, as any other vehicles, there’s a lot of wear and tear and maintenance issues that come up on fire suppression pumps, nozzles, as well as the truck’s tires. Driving through rough grassland and canyon terrain with a load of water on the trucks takes it’s toll. Engels says “Those trucks are real heavy when they’re full of water”
When asked who does the work on the trucks and equipment, the chief said that it depends on what went wrong. He says “We like to do most of it here (at the fire hall) or at least get the work done in town. But sometimes specialty work needs to be taken out of town, or the company has to send workers here.”
Fire prevention week is coming up in about a month. But listeners are reminded that as Smoky Bear would say, “Only YOU can prevent wildfires!”