Getting a new fire engine that does double duty seems appropriate for Little Axe volunteer firefighters who also do double duty serving their community while holding down other jobs.
On Friday, a new $290,000 engine was delivered to the rural fire department paid for by a disaster recovery grant in response to devastating August 2012 wildfires.
“It’s a new Type 2 Wildman interface engine,” Little Axe Fire Chief Al Schneider said. “It’s a multi-use vehicle. It can be used on structure fires and wildfires. It’s also four-wheel drive.”
Schneider remembers the 2012 wildfires that blazed through Cleveland County during a drought made worse by a triple-digit heat wave.
“I spent 57 hours on the fire line in three days, and so did most of my department,” Schneider said. “I would turn around and do it again.”
With gear for one firefighter costing between $5,000 and $6,000, affording new equipment is tough.
“Our operating budget is about $60,000 a year,” Schneider said. “That’s to pay for insurance, workers’ comp, equipment, fuel and operating costs, but we do very good with the money we get.”
The last brand new piece of equipment the department bought was a tanker pumper in 2008 paid for using a FEMA grant.
The tankers are needed to carry water where there isn’t any. In the case of the new engine, versatility will allow the department to fight fires on a variety of terrains.
“There’s a lot of private roads out here in this district, and they are not kept up,” Schneider said.
The 18 square miles of Little Axe coverage lies just outside Norman city limits.
“Where Norman stops, we take over, and to the north where Oklahoma City stops, we take over,” Schneider said.
Little Axe runs mutual aid on almost all fires, getting assistance from Norman and often helping Norman’s Fire Station No. 5.
“They help out on our medical calls because we only run fire,” Schneider said.
With no water supply out in east Norman, Little Axe often brings its tanker trucks to assist.
“I have another one of them being built right now,” Schneider said.
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A tanker truck and a brush truck also will be funded with the grant.
“I think a total of $1.8 million in fire equipment is what we got on that grant,” District 2 County Commissioner Darry Stacy said. “These guys were so excited to get that truck. It was really cool.”
Schneider said he appreciated Stacy and Cleveland County’s support in helping the rural fire departments get funding.
He also said Lisa Krieg, with the city of Norman, was instrumental in rural departments getting a share of the grant money for new equipment that they couldn’t afford otherwise.
In addition to Little Axe, Cedar Country, Slaughterville, Noble and Lexington were awarded money for new fire apparatuses.
The total Community Development Block Grant was for $22 million awarded conjointly to Norman and Cleveland County for recovery from 2012 wildfires and 2013 tornadoes.
Much of the money is paying for repair and reconstruction of infrastructure, but a portion of the Cleveland County funds were approved to help replace and upgrade equipment including brush trucks and fire engines.
Slaughterville will get $74,000 for a brush truck and $288,000 for a Type 2 engine.
Little Axe and Noble are each getting $74,000 for a brush truck, $216,000 for a 2,500-gallon water tender with a 5,000-gallons-per-minute pump and $288,000 for a Type 2 engine.
Cedar Country will get $74,000 for a brush truck, while Lexington will get $74,000 for a brush truck and $216,000 for a 2,500-gallon water tender.
The entire package of projects includes four bridges and five roadway improvements totaling $18,528,000 and fire equipment totaling $3,183,500.
Joy Hampton
366-3544
Follow me @joyinvestigates
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