It happened around 5:30 a.m. as the ambulance from the Cherokee Regional Medical Center was traveling southbound on I-35 and veered off the road, according to Lt. Nicholas Lennie with the Story County Sheriff’s Office. The ambulance hit the 111-B exit sign and ended up in the ditch between the interstate and the exit ramp to westbound Highway 30.  

The ambulance was transporting a patient to the Ottumwa Regional Health Center.The two paramedics and the patient on board suffered minor cuts and bruises and were taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center to be checked out.

In these areas, some of the densest in the county, emergency response times almost always fell short of national standards. The solution, according to Brooks and the rest of the Birchbark team: a new fire station, somewhere near Daleville Town Center  

Supervisor Billy Martin says he was impressed with the report, and says it will serve as a useful guide when the county looks to add a new fire station.  

"We've got some good data, some good information that we can look at and try to make better decisions on it," said Martin.

Martin added the board doesn't have a timeline yet for when a new station could be build, but Paul Brooks is quick to point out: the clock is ticking.

The new truck, manufactured by Pierce, is a 100 foot tower with a bucket at the top of the ladder. It is also a Quint, meaning it has five different usable features: water tanks, pump, hose, aerial ladder and ground ladder.

 

The truck is being constructed in Wisconsin. Members of Hingham’s Fire Department visited the shop this week to make sure everything was coming together smoothly. The truck will be delivered to Massachusetts in April and, after a few more additions, the Fire Department will see the truck in late April or early May.

The new truck is replacing a 20-year-old truck with a light duty ladder and height restrictions due to the need for it to fit in a smaller station. The new truck can reach higher, with no height restrictions because it will be stationed in the Fire Department Headquarters, a larger space.

The electric-green truck holds 1,500 gallons of water, 850 pounds of foam and dry extinguishing agent, and has a water pump that puts out 2,000 gallons per minute. That’s three times the water capacity and 500 more gallons pumped per minute than a standard fire truck, according to Eugene Springfield Fire Captain Tim Blackwell.  

The extra capacity of these specialized trucks makes a significant difference in dealing with the larger fires that could come from an airplane, Blackwell said.  

The truck is the newest in the airport’s three-truck fleet. It has two nozzles on the front — controlled from the inside — to put out fires. This eliminates the need to get out of the cab to direct water or foam onto the fire, which Blackwell said is important when handling large-scale fires.