The 1998 Steward and Stevenson M1078 two-and-a-half ton truck, surplus from the Department of Defense Firefighter Property Program, which Texas A&M Forest Service administers, was converted to civilian fire department use and was be fitted with a slip-on unit that includes a 500-gallon water tank, Cameron VFD Fire Chief Henry Horelica said.

A slip-on unit is designed to become a fast initial-attack fire-fighting unit; durable, flexible and highly mobile. It is used in wildland fire-fighting as well as structure and auto fires and is a complete, self-contained, fire-fighting apparatus designed for a pick-up truck or custom-built vehicle platform.

“With this slip-on unit, the truck now has a 500-gallon water tank, hose reel, pump, ladders, rails, light bar and siren,” Horelica explained.

“When we received the truck we had it painted at a local body shop,” said.

"We have a lot of rural area where they don't have the water lines, and you have to shuttle your water or tanker your water to a call, and that's the main purpose of this truck," said Stanardsville Volunteer Fire Chief Mike Dickerson.

The new tanker cost $375,000 and the department helped pay for it by trading in the old engine, and raising money from the county and private citizens.

The tanker truck was traveling westbound on Linebaugh when it "failed to stop at the red light," deputies said.  It hit the SUV and rolled over, trapping and killing the Nissan driver inside his vehicle. 

That driver has not yet been publicly identified.

The apparatus driver, 33, submitted to a blood draw and deputies say alcohol did not play a factor in this crash.  No charged have been filed but the investigation is continuing.

The new Johnson County Ambulance Service building at 808 S. Dubuque St. is on track to be completed by the end of March 2017.

The Iowa City Council last week unanimously agreed to rezone neighboring property at 818 S. Dubuque St. as public property so it can be incorporated into the project. The rezoning goes through two more council readings before becoming official, though the city already has issued a building permit.

Steve Spenler, director of Ambulance Services, said the building also will house the medical examiner’s office and provide storage space for the county auditor’s office.

He said his department expects to move into the new space next April.

County supervisors awarded the $7.5 million construction contract for the new building in March to Dubuque-based Portzen Construction.

Spenler said the new two-story, 34-100-square-foot building has more space than the previous one, which has been in use since 1988. The newest ambulances the county owns, he said, cannot fit into the old building and are housed elsewhere.

The “remount” plan involves removing the “box” from the chassis and sending it back to its manufacturer for a complete refurbishment.

They will upgrade the lighting packages, replace door seals, change lighting to LED, install cooler boxes and go through the entire unit, bringing it up to original equipment manufacturing standards, Gehres told the board.

“And they provide the same lifetime warranty you get when you buy a new ambulance,” he said.

The refurbished box is then remounted on a new chassis — with a new engine.

It’s like a new ambulance, Gehres said, but costs about $125,000 altogether — while a brand new ambulance currently runs $194,000. The price of a new ambulance has been rising about 5 percent a year, Gehres said.

The existing ambulance chassis can potentially be repurposed by the town or sold, he said.

Gehres is planning to do a remount on two vehicles in the district’s fleet, both of which have outdated boxes and high mileage on their engines.

“It will take about six months to get it all completed,” he said.