Lacey's fire chief is taking a 2,500-gallon water tender on a lengthy journey from Georgia to South Sound. The result will be shorter fire department response times for the Nisqually Indian reservation.
Lacey purchased the tender from Freedom Fire Equipment in Georgia with a $300,000 grant the Nisqually Tribe awarded in December. It will be stationed on the reservation, which does not have fire services and contracts with Lacey to provide those services, according to Cynthia Iyall, tribal chairman.
"It gets a firefighter here sooner, which you never know, could save a life, and that's certainly beneficial to all," she said.
The tender will be at Station 32 off Yelm Highway, a volunteer station that has been all but empty the past six years. Three volunteers will now staff the station, which has been refurbished.
"We haven't had a regular presence out there for quite a while," Brooks said.
Lacey Fire District 3 Chief Steve Brooks picked up the tribe's investment himself in an attempt to save the cost of shipping the truck to Lacey. Driving it back is expected to save $6,000 to $10,000.
Brooks flew to Atlanta with three others from the department to inspect the $210,000 vehicle.
"It just had a few minor adjustments to be made," he said.
Brooks hit the road Wednesday night and headed north to Tennessee to pick up his father, a former firefighter with a commercial driver's license.
The father and son have a goal of driving 500 miles per day during the six-day journey, stopping in Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah and Oregon before making it to Lacey on Tuesday.
Brooks said he's one of the few people in his department with a commercial license. Firefighters are exempt from needing the license when driving fire engines, but the new tender has yet to officially become part of the fleet.
The Nisqually Tribe grant provided not only funding for the tender, but a manufactured home to serve as a station, replacing one that was removed years ago.
"The previous manufactured residence had some major repairs and things needed," Brooks said. "It wasn't worth spending the money on it, so it was removed and demolished."
The first of the station's three resident volunteer firefighters is expected to move in this week. The others should be moved in by early next month, putting the station back into full operation by October.
"That should give us a much more consistent presence out there," Brooks said.
The department will provide extra equipment with money from the general fund, he said.
The department plans to host an open house at the station in October.
While there are closer tender manufacturers than the one in Georgia, they couldn't compare with the Georgia company's craftsmanship, Brooks said. The department also was looking for a particular model.
"We tried to go to a fairly common build or pattern type," Brooks said. "It's a standard platform that matches the rest of the departments in the area."
Copyright 2012 - The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.)
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
