Bartlesville Fire Department recently added a new truck to its fleet after retiring the 11- year-old “command vehicle” for Central Fire Station’s three battalion chiefs.
The new 2017 Ford F-350 crew cab, four-wheel drive pick-up will allow the station’s battalion chiefs — who act as the incident commander on all structure fires and other serious calls — to respond to emergencies with back-up equipment and reliable radios needed to communicate with firefighters on-scene.
“Our old battalion chief vehicle had 140,000-plus miles on it, which is a lot for an emergency vehicle,” said Fire Chief John Banks. “It was due to be replaced.”
Banks said the battalion chief command vehicle is an important part of the Bartlesville Fire Department’s arsenal in fighting fires and responding to emergencies, and the new truck in particular has features that will not only help the incident commanders do their jobs, but will also help ensure safety at emergency scenes.
“It’s got a rollout bed in the back of it, and it’s outfitted to carry twelve spare SCBA — self contained breathing apparatus — bottles,” Banks said. “And they’ve got another radio at the back of the truck so they can perform command functions from outside the vehicle without having to rely on a portable radio.”
Other equipment is carried on the vehicle as well, he said.
“This is a necessary piece of equipment for our battalion chiefs to respond to emergencies,” said Banks. “It’s imperative that the incident commanders have everything
they need to oversee the scene of a fire or other emergency, and this vehicle helps them do that,” Banks said.
The vehicle was purchased with $50,000 from the Capital Improvement Project (CIP) fund, and was budgeted for funding for the current, 2016-17 fiscal year.