Three firefighter paramedics, including Brandon Desch, spent months last year thinking about what they liked and what they wanted to change about their current fleet, and how the trucks could be made safer for patients and first responders.  

Most of the upgrades are designed to make the ambulance more user-friendly for paramedics, Desch said. That includes a touch screen in the truck cabin, redesigned exterior storage and additional medicine cabinets.

The new truck is 35½ feet long and 10½ feet tall, making it three feet longer than the now-retired 2000 rescue truck. The new truck gives firefighters six more feet, or 50 percent more storage space for rope, building and confined space rescue equipment, which was being stored in a trailer.  

The new rescue truck was jointly purchased by the City of Kearney and the Suburban Fire Protection District No. 1 for $590,000. The old truck was sold to a fire truck broker in Pennsylvania for $75,000.

The truck can pump 1,500 gallons of water per minute, and can also dispense fire-suppressing foam through all three of its 1.5-inch nozzles. It has deck guns that can be operated remotely, more compartment space for a variety of equipment, and tire chains that can be deployed in bad road conditions with the touch of a button, among other features.  

It has a 1,500-watt light tower with its own built-in generator, which Batis said will increase safety at vehicle accident scenes, especially on the freeway. Whereas the lighting systems on the city’s other trucks use halogen bulbs, Rescue 31’s lights are state-of-the-art LEDs.