ORLEANS, VT; March 9, 2022—KIMTEK Corporation announced today that it has delivered a custom designed FIRELITE® firefighting truck skid for Tesla’s EV auto manufacturing operations in Fremont, California.

The custom build was a cooperative effort with Tesla, KIMTEK and Tropos Motors of Morgan Hill, CA, a cutting edge producer of EV truck chassis. To adhere to California’s stringent indoor emissions regulations, the Firelite was fitted with a Darley 1.5 AGE 13HX pump which was reconfigured to run on propane. With custom storage options, cross lay trays, a 125 gallon water tank and 5 gallon foam system, the FIRELITE is designed to not only respond to fires inside the plant but is built to take on fire threats outside the plant as well.   

KIMTEK founder and president, Kimball Johnson, said of the Tesla custom firefighting skid unit, “New applications for our skid units are found nearly every week, as are ways we can adapt them for use in the field.  We’re very pleased to work with our fine vendor partners like W.S. Darley and Tropos Motors on custom builds like this, and the final results show the quality of those efforts”.  

About KIMTEK Corporation

KIMTEK Corporation is the largest producer and marketer of ATV/UTV-specific skid units for public safety agencies in the U.S. KIMTEK’s FIRELITE® fire and rescue skid units and MEDLITE® medical skid units are now in service in all fifty U.S. states and across Canada, all branches of the military, the National Park Service, numerous NASCAR tracks, sporting complexes, schools, universities, and in several countries worldwide. KIMTEK Transport skid units are made in the USA. Founded in 1984 as a research and development company dedicated to advances in life safety technology in the fire sciences, KIMTEK Corporation manufactures and markets a full line of FIRELITE and MEDLITE Transport skid units for emergency service UTVs and pick-up trucks. For more information, please contact KIMTEK at 888-546-8358 or visit www.kimtekresearch.com.

The Traverse City Fire Department recently took delivery of its new custom City Fire Engine 1, a 2022 Pierce Velocity.

The apparatus replaces a 2004 model, and the three-year project included tax-payer funds, reports upnorthlive.com.

Officials say the apparatus will be ready for service in the next few weeks.

MONTGOMERY – Governor Kay Ivey on Monday awarded $10 million of the State Fiscal Recovery Fund from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to establish COVID recovery grants for volunteer fire departments. This program is an initiative of Governor Ivey and the Alabama Legislature to provide support to Alabama’s volunteer fire departments impacted by the covid-19 pandemic.

“Alabama’s first responders, including our community’s volunteer fire departments, are vital in keeping our state safe. While states across the country and the entire globe dealt with the curveballs the pandemic threw, our volunteer fire departments kept going,” said Governor Ivey. “I am proud to have worked with the Alabama Legislature to direct these funds to good use as our local volunteer fire departments recover. I am pleased to support them and encourage them to take advantage of this grant program.”

The state of Alabama will offer grants in an amount up to $10,320 for providers that meet eligibility requirements. The application period for the Alabama Volunteer Fire Department COVID Recovery Grant program will be open from noon, March 7 through noon, March 25, 2022.

Alabama received $2.1 million in ARPA funds, and the Alabama Legislature appropriated $136,796,346 from Alabama’s State Fiscal Recovery Revenue Replacement Fund for this program.

General information and application materials is available here: https://frf.alabama.gov/.

A member of the Clayton Fire Company was taken to the hospital Monday after an accident at the firehouse.

The department member was using a scissor lift to clean the ceiling area of the station when a station door was opened and toppled the lift.

The firefighter was approximately 25 feet in the air when the piece of equipment fell over. He struck his head on the bumper of a piece of apparatus in the fall, WBOC reported.

Paramedics were on scene and immediately delivered first aid. He was taken to Christiana Trauma Center with head injuries.

Visit WBOC for more.

KME—Pine Ridge Fire Rescue, Summerville, SC, 103-foot Tuff Truck aerial quint. KME Severe Service XMFD cab and chassis; Cummins X12 500-hp engine; Waterous CSU 1,750-gpm pump; 650-gallon polypropylene water tank; BG2 Smart FireTech scene lighting system; creeper controls on ladder tip. Dealer: Cameron Marler, SAFE Industries, Easley, SC.

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