Fire Department gets new tools

Air bags, cutters and spreaders will be helpful in extrication

Capt. Brian Johnson shows the new circular saw which can cut either metal or wood.
Capt. Brian Johnson shows the new circular saw which can cut either metal or wood.

— New equipment at the Pea Ridge Fire Department will be useful in extrications, according to Capt. Brian Johnson. Rubber air bags which come in a variety of sizes, can be used to lift as much as 60,000 pounds. Because of their size and flexibility, they can be placed in very small spaces to separate or lift heavy objects.

Cutters, spreaders, struts and rams are also useful in extrication. The new tools - air bags and several AMKUS tools- were purchased with a $27,000 grant from Wal-Mart, increasing the effectiveness of the firefighters’ abilities in an emergency.

“This will provide a medium rescue closer to our mutual aid areas without relying on the larger cities,” Johnson said.

“These are compatible with new cars,” Johnson said of a new cutter, explaining that the advanced steels of new cars is different than in the older model cars. “It has a 200,000-pound cutting force.”

The tools work off a hydraulic system which includes a 100-foot line allowing the firefighters to work from the truck.

Before the reels, a portable power unit had to be available.

One of the spreaders can spread up to 40 inches.

A new circular saw with interchangeable blades can be used on metal or wood.

All the new tools are on a rescue truck recently purchased by the Fire Department.

Fire Chief Frank Rizzio announced another grant of $1,200 from Wal-Mart which will be used to purchase a hydrant flow testing device which will prevent property damage due to high flows of water streaming from hydrants during annual testing.

“The support of the community and corporate sponsors like Wal-Mart make continued improvement of our services possible,” Rizzio said. “Without them, we’d be in a real pickle.”

News, Pages 12 on 06/16/2010