By Jonathan Miller

The Colony Fire Department upgraded its Battalion Chief Incident Command vehicle recently to one that now includes workstations, and celebrated the switch over with a push-in ceremony.

Here’s a video of the department’s push-in ceremony, held Oct. 2 at Firehouse No. 1.

The new battalion is a 2023 Ford F550 with long wheelbase and a storage box called Command Access Vehicle customized for the fire service. It replaces a Chevrolet Suburban, which served as the first battalion vehicle when the department created the battalion chief position in 2010.

“This new vehicle was custom designed for our needs,” Chief Scott Thompson said. “It has more space and a much better layout for command and control of emergency operations. The old vehicle will be placed in reserve status for the battalion chief to use when the new one is having service performed. This new vehicle has 63 cubic feet more usable space versus a standard pickup bed. It is also equipped with the latest technology and a tethered drone that will feed real time intel to the incident commander.”

The new battalion vehicle, assigned to the on-duty shift commander, will be housed at Fire Headquarters and Engine Company 11. The new rig has three work stations, storage for personal protective equipment (PPE), self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) for two, and hand tools.

PPE, SCBA, extinguishers, and hand tools are stored on the driver side at the front of the Command Access. To the rear of the Command Access on the driver side is a workstation for SCBA tracking and accountability. The rear of the unit is for the IC and houses a command board and monitor. On the passenger side, the front of the box contains a LUCAS® chest compression system, CYANOKIT®, a portable command board, and a tethered drone with video feed. The rear section of the Command Access on the passenger side is an additional command position.

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