Fire Associates of Santa Clara Valley recently took a giant step forward. A new Fire Support Unit went into service. Designated "Fire SUpport Unit 1", the rig is now supporting the groups North County operating region. Running out of Santa Clara City Fire Department's Fire Station 9, the rig will primarily support the cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga and Santa Clara.
The vehicle is a 1997 GMC/Isuzu that once served as a fire/rescue truck. It is powered by a 350 GMC power plant with an automatic transmission. During the last few months the vehicle has undergone some major modifications at the hands of Fleet Manager, Don Gilbert. The group has installed a 60 gallon potable water tank and pump, a 5000 watt Honda generator along with VHF and UHF radios to communicate with all eleven fire departments in the County.
FASCV members recently met to switch out the supplies and equipment from the previous Fire Support Unit 1, Items like Easy-Up awnings, misting fans, tables, benches, coolers, coffee percolators and more were moved onto the new unit. Also added were many boxes of bottled water, Gatorade, powdered lemonade, coffee beans and Clif Bars.
Thank you to al the firefighters who regularly contribute funds to the FASCV. It is this funding, along with donations from some FASCV members, that made this purchase possible. Look for this unit to be at the next multi-alarm fire in the north county!
Fire Associates of Santa Clara Valley is a volunteer group that provides canteen and rehab support during major emergency incidents, fire department drills and special events. Fire Associates has been proudly serving all the Fire Agencies of the Santa Clara Valley since 1969. Fire Associates operates three Fire Support Units under the authorization of the Santa Clara County Fire Chiefs Association.
