Oswego Fire Protection District officials are trying a new approach to gain passage of a referendum to help the agency pay for its rising operational costs, shawlocal.com reported.

The agency’s Board of Trustees has placed a referendum on the April 4 ballot that, if approved, would allow the district to sell up to $17 million in general obligation bonds to pay for what district officials describe as its “critical needs,” the report said.

A fire official said the fire district would, in turn, use the proceeds from the bond sale over next 10 years to buy new vehicles and equipment, fund the construction of an additional fire station and retire a portion for the district’s current debt, according to the report.

Among the items in the capital improvement plan targeted for funding with bond proceeds, the fire official said, are the purchase of three new fire engines, the replacement of two ambulances, the rechassieing of three other ambulances and the purchase of an additional ambulance, five staff cars, rescue tools and cardiac monitors, the report said.

The fire official said one of the fire engines the agency is seeking to replace dates to 1998, while the oldest ambulance was acquired in 2006, according to the report.

A full-size fire engine costs approximately $4 per mile to operate when diesel fuel, upkeep and repairs are totaled, according to Gallatin Fire Chief Jeff Beaman, tennessean.com reported.

An SUV can cost around 30 cents per mile, Beaman estimates.

That’s why Gallatin is developing plans to utilize a Chevrolet Tahoe to run certain medical calls that have been handled by a full-time fire truck, the report said.

Gallatin is implementing the “alternative response vehicle” program with a Chevrolet Tahoe that has been used by each shift commander when they are on-duty, the report said. The city has purchased a new vehicle for shift commanders and the used Tahoe will be equipped and wrapped with a white over red concept to make it identifiable with the fire department.

The alternative response vehicle will be used at Station 1, which is the department’s busiest station, according to the report. Data will be gathered with hopes to expand to other stations.

The Tahoe will have medical equipment and will generally carry two crew members instead of four that are typically on a fire truck, the report said.

New fire engine coming

The city of Gallatin has received its first rendering of a new fire engine in production that was ordered in December of 2021 for $635,000, the city said in a press release. The water-pumping engine will replace the primary fire apparatus currently being used at either at Fire Station 3 (860 Red River Road) or Fire Station 4 (315 Big Station Camp Boulevard). The Gallatin Fire Department will conduct an evaluation of the operating costs for each of these sites to determine which station this new fire engine will be assigned to.

The fire engine to be replaced will continue to be used for an additional five to seven years as a reserve apparatus when a front-line fire engine is down for repairs or maintenance. Generally, a fire engine has a service life of 15 years in front-line service and approximately five to seven additional years as a reserve.

The Princeton City Council approved the purchase of a new tender March 23 to replace Tender Two at Wyanett Station, hometownsource.com reported.

Tender Two will then be sold with funds returning to the truck replacement reserve fund. This purchase is part of the overall truck replacement plan approved in 2019, the report said.

The cost of the new tender is $372,563. The truck replacement reserve fund currently has just under $343,000 in it. The remaining funds will be taken from the fire equipment reserve fund, according to the report.

The budget forecast for continued replacement of fire trucks includes a predicted $1 million expenditure in 2028 for the replacement of Engine Eight, the report said.

According to a report from ABC7, the second of two Stinnett (TX) Fire Department (SFD) firefighters who was hurt in a rollover crash Friday received slightly better news about his neck injury today.

Although the SFD initially reported that the firefighter may have suffered two hairline fractures in his neck, they are now saying the injury was actually “severe whiplash.” He is expected to be released from the hospital Monday after consulting with a physical therapist.

The crash occurred while the members were responding to a wildfire in the Canadian River bottom FM 2277. The two firefighters were transported to Golden Plains Community Hospital in Borger.

One member was treated and released, while the other was transferred to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo.

The SFD thanked The 100 Club of the Texas Panhandle and Panhandle Firemen’s & Fire Marshals’ Association for their support.