The LUCAS device attaches around a victim in need of CPR via a plate that slides under the back and connects to a mechanized arch with a centered piston, positioned above the victim.  

Once assembled, and with a battery engaged, LUCAS will perform chest compressions until the battery runs out, which lasts about 30 to 40 minutes.

“We’ve got two batteries, so we can get an hour or more of automated, hands-free compressions,” said Fire Chief Mike Knoup. “If all else fails, it has a plug that goes into an electrical outlet to continue compressions, and we have those in the ambulances.”

But the decision to purchase an MXV 4-man International pumper for $361,658, Dodge 12-foot rescue truck for $141,475 and a 3000 IG tanker for $283,577 didn’t sit well with Ald. Ted Hessels.  

Hessels, a volunteer firefighter for more than two decades, agreed the township could use the new pumper truck, but not new rescue and tanker trucks.

“I’m not for it. The rescue truck is not the truck we need … I’m not totally against the tanker, but we didn’t get any other quotes,” he said.

Hessels, in his third term on council, said there wasn’t a lot of time to read the report on the purchase. During the meeting, he said Ald. Betty Konc asked for the report to be deferred to council’s Dec. 5 meeting, but that motion was defeated.

No one in the AFD truck was injured, Boyd said, however the driver of the other vehicle was transported to the hospital. Officials could not say the extent of his injuries.  

Significant damage was sustained by both vehicles, Boyd said.

City Council members voted unanimously in late November to approve the three-year lease of a new Sutphen Heavy Duty Custom Pumper Truck for the AFD at a cost not to exceed $496,025 “plus any associated costs for leasing the equipment.”  

The lease payments are already included in the 2018 fiscal year budget, council members said.  

Alabaster Fire Chief Jim Golden said the new truck will replace aging AFD equipment and likely will be delivered by mid-summer of 2018.

Chestertown Fire Department President Bob Swan said the truck was parked in the left lane in a curve south of Exit 25, where a driver had gone off the road into the median. The firetruck did not sustain serious damage and may not be knocked out of service. The minivan, however, was far worse off, and the driver was ticketed.  

He said firefighters had set up a truck in the left lane a half-mile before the accident scene to warn drivers of the upcoming danger, but drivers still sped by and narrowly missed Fire Department equipment.