Beatrice Fire and Rescue moved into its current station in the lower level of the city’s Municipal Building in 1965. Since that time the ambulance service has been added and Daake noted that fire and rescue vehicles are considerably larger and heavier than they were more than six decades ago.

In fact, he said most fire stations now require at least an 8-inch thick concrete floor to support the weight of modern vehicles while the Beatrice station is still just a 6-inch floor.

In the current station, emergency vehicles are parked several cars deep with little space in between which Daake admitted could create a small delay in response time in certain situations. 

City council is scheduled to vote next week on whether to begin a five-year lease for 12 new radios, which will be issued to Chief Bell and the department’s assistant chiefs. The total cost will be about $70,000, Bell said.  

The department uses 800 Mhz radios to communicate with county officials, and separate lower-band radios to talk to each other.

Work on the truck started last fall at the end of the wildfire season. The district’s 15-year-old truck had major mechanical issues and was no longer reliable. They bought a 2017 Dodge 5500 crew cab in Avondale and firefighters installed a 500-gallon water tank along with a 250-gallon-per-minute pump.  

The district participates in the Arizona wildfire dispatch system which coordinates the dispatch of firefighting crews to major wildfires anywhere in Arizona or the country. Crews must respond with enough supplies and equipment for two weeks.