CHICKASHA — Chickasha City Council members authorized the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department to buy a new truck for fire suppression, and federal economic stimulus funds will finance the lion’s share of the cost.
The custom-built “brush truck” will be acquired from Emergency Vehicle Sales and Service of Oklahoma, a Blanchard company that submitted one of the four sealed bids for the contract. Banner Fire Equipment of Chickasha was among the other bidders.
The price tag is $177,995, of which $154,454 (or almost 87%) will be financed from federal ARPA funds allocated by the Grady County Board of Commissioners, and the $23,541 balance will come from city coffers. The American Rescue Plan Act was a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package approved in 2021 by Congress and President Joe Biden.
Records indicate delivery could range from fall 2023 to late summer 2024, depending upon availability of materials and the length of time required to construct the body of the vehicle.
The city council authorized the purchase at its regular bimonthly meeting Jan. 3.
The new fire truck will have a 2023 Dodge 5500 4x4 cab chassis with an extra-heavy suspension package and six wheels, a 6.7-liter V8 diesel engine with a 40-gallon fuel tank, a 10-speed automatic transmission, and will weigh approximately 19,500 pounds.
Its cab will have a split front bench seat and a flip-up/fold-down bench seat in the back, a windshield-mounted wide-angle rearview camera system plus a thermal imaging camera.
The truck will be equipped with a 500-gallon co-polymer polypropylene water tank and a pump capable of producing 50 gallons-per-minute at 150 pounds per square inch, or 150 gpm at 100 psi.
Warranties will include one year on the apparatus, two years on the water pump and a lifetime warranty on the water tank, and five years on the electrical system. Structural components of the cab and body will have a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty, documents show.
Chickasha’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department operates a fleet of 10 vehicles from two stations.
The Grady County community of 15,800 residents has 36 career firefighter/emergency medical technicians and two civilian employees, according to the city’s website. Fire personnel are cross-trained as EMTs and paramedics.
The department responds to “between 3,500 and 4,000 requests for service” each year, approximately 70% of which are emergency medical responses, records reflect.
Chickasha’s Fire & EMS Department responds to a wide variety of emergency and non-emergency requests for service, Fire Chief Tony Samaniego said.
Emergency services include not only fire suppression and medical assistance calls, but also hazardous materials mishaps, technical rescue incidents, and other hazardous conditions, he said. Nonemergency services include checking smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.