After resourcefully building their own tender to haul water years ago, the Newton Fire/EMS department received just over half a million dollars toward a new fire tender. This will be the first time in nearly 10 years the department has a traditional tender. In 2015, when the engine that hauled 1,000 gallons of water was replaced, the new one only carried half as much. For three years, the department went without a tender. “The city couldn’t afford it,” Deputy Chief Cory Lehman said. In 2018, the department worked together and transformed an old 1983 military truck into a new water tender. “We’ve got a bunch of talent in our department that put it together,” Lehman said. The department applied for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Department of Homeland Security last year, as well, but didn’t get it. This year, they were awarded $518,000. Lehman said they were happy to get it this year, because recipients are rare. “For all the apparatus, only about 10 percent get vehicles they requested,” Lehman said. The old tender no longer met National Fire Protection Association standards for water carrying capacity. Lehman said the city areas aren’t a problem because there are plenty of hydrants, but in the rural areas, it becomes an issue. “In town, you’ve got hydrants all over. Out of town, there’s no hydrants,” Lehman said. He said it would be used for this more. “It’s used a lot more for incidents out of town,” Lehman said. “For rural structure fires.” A release from the city added that the old tender didn’t have the dump valves needed to shuttle water in rural fires. The release said the city was responsible for covering a 10 percent match of $51,818.
Source: Harvey County Now
