A quick-response rescue and fire truck is being considered for the Central Illinois Regional Airport so that the airport can satisfy the required 3-minute response time from fire station to field. The truck, smaller and lighter than the fire truck purchased last year, was put out for bids Thursday by the Bloomington-Normal Airport Authority Board. Purchase, however, is based on receiving a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Using 90 percent federal funding, the airport paid $838,930 for the Oshkosh Striker that is designed specifically for aircraft-related fires.
Although the truck was designed to make the 3-minute limit, it doesn't always make it, said Don Schneider, deputy director of security and special projects.
Buying a smaller truck for the first-response vehicle also will require the airport to have a second truck at the airfield within four minutes, he said, and that might require an additional firefighter.
The airport pays Bloomington the cost of special training for drivers of the vehicle, said Schneider. There's also talk of moving the fire station closer to the airport runways, he said.
"There is a lot of inefficiency with a second (fire)house and with a second person," said board member Steve Wannemacher. "What we need to do is make the vehicle we bought make the time." A variety of things were tried, said Schneider, such as easing the vehicle's weight, "but you can't make the vehicle go any faster and you can't make firefighters drive any faster than they feel safe."
In other matters, the authority accepted a preliminary 2004 budget of $2.44 million that includes money for a secretary and a janitor. The new jobs won't be filled if the money -- about $34,000 each -- is not available. The budget will be voted on July 10.
