Thanks to a recent donation, the Aberdeen Fire Department won't have to borrow off-road vehicles when patrolling or responding to emergencies in rough terrain.
The department on Tuesday was presented with a John Deere Trail Gator from the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co.
The department was one of two in South Dakota to receive the four-wheelers, said Fire Chief Bill Winter.
Firefighter Keith Sharisky wrote the application last fall after he heard about the donation program, Winter said.
Winter said the Gator will be extremely useful as the department has had to borrow four-wheelers from other agencies in the past.
"We'll be able to use it for wildland firefighting - there are a lot of grass fires on the edge of town," Winter said.
The chief noted that the vehicle can be outfitted with a tank for water and firefighting foam.
"You can drive along the edge of the fire and spray," he said.
Previously the department has used 50-pound backpack tanks that drain quickly and don't allow individual firefighters to cover much ground, Winter said.
The new vehicle will save time and energy, and it can even help save lives.
The Gator can be used to provide emergency medical services and to transport patients.
The chief said the fire department has taken its ambulances into rough terrain in the past only to have them get stuck, "Then we have to remove the patient and carry them on the backboard to an ambulance that isn't stuck."
The Gator will make such delays a thing of the past, Winter said.
Among the options for add-ons to the Gator is a med-bed, that allows a backboard to be attached to its cargo bed to transport an injured or incapacitated person to a waiting ambulance.
Other possible uses for the Gator include transporting the Brown County Hazardous Materials team into and out of a hot zone, Winter said. The suits the team members wear are heavy and hot. By using the Gator, the team members can move without exhausting themselves or overheating just trying to reach a problem area.
Winter said the department was going to budget for an off-road vehicle with its 2005 weapons of mass destruction federal grant funds, but the approval letter from U.S. Smokeless Tobacco came this summer and it saved the department almost $9,000.
"We want to say that this is not in any way an endorsement of smokeless tobacco, but we do want to show our appreciation and our gratitude for their willingness to help us out," Winter said. He also said Arlie Anundson, a representative of U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, was in town Tuesday to officially present the vehicle to the fire department.
Next up for the Gator is to purchase a trailer for it so the vehicle can be hauled to an emergency site.
"Some of the guys said I should have it painted red," Winter joked about the Gator's olive drab paint job.
