Local Welding Class Builds Tender for Okla. Dept.

Oct. 06--The Kiamichi Technology Center Welding Technology class has teamed up with the Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department to help them get things up and running.

The fire department has been in existence since the early 1970s, but Fire Chief Paul Weber said, "We're restructuring the department; it had fallen behind times so we're trying to regroup.

The students, Joshua Smith, Brandon Sessums and Dustin Phillips, along with instructor Mike Weaver, have been working on a fire tender for the department for about a week. A fire tender is a specialized vehicle used to bring water to fire trucks that are engaged in battling fires.

Smith, who is also a firefighter with the department, said, "It's not completely finished." The truck still needs to be painted and outfitted with lights and sirens.

The students have welded a 2,000 gallon tank onto a military "deuce and a half" truck. The aluminum tank had to be bolted down to the steel framed truck. The truck was donated by the Forestry Department and is surplus from the US Department of Defense.

According to Weaver, the class has also "designed, fabricated and installed a set of fenders" using specialized computer program AutoCAD.

"I love doing these kind of jobs," said Weaver, whose class has worked on other welding projects for various organizations in Bryan County and surrounding areas.

Weber said the Forestry Department owns the truck at the moment. Once the students have finished the truck, it must be inspected. "It's still property of the Forestry Department until we get it to meet criteria," he said.

He and his assistant chief, Marvin Cross, thanked the class for its hard work.

Weber said, "I don't think the public understands all the work that goes into this. I want to give a special thanks to these guys. Without their hard work, we wouldn't have this done so far."