New Rescue 51
The Northshore Fire Department took delivery of the newest addition to its emergency vehicle fleet in October of 2007. H&W Emergency Vehicles based in Hillsboro, OR, manufactured Rescue 51, a vehicle that carries a variety of specialized rescue equipment. Its predecessor, a 22 year old Ford F700, was respectfully decommissioned in November of 2007.
In the spring of 2004 a committee was formed to study the replacement of the severely outdated 1985 rescue vehicle. The Northshore Fire Department purchased the used F700 in 1995 and although the chassis was still capable of carrying a large payload, the continued use of the older vehicle had some significant drawbacks including the vehicle being severely under-powered; seating for only two rescue personnel; the onboard generator was not powerful enough to provide emergency scene lighting; it did not have breathing air filling capabilities; the overall reliability of the vehicle had become questionable. The need for an updated vehicle was obvious, not only to provide excellent rescue services to our community, but also to ensure firefighter safety, organizational efficiencies, and rapid response times. Thus the committee began the research necessary to replace the existing vehicle.
Significant steps were taken to keep the vehicle cost to a minimum. These steps included thorough analysis of our departmental and regional needs, a detailed process of evaluating vehicle design as well as efforts to formalize reciprocal resource agreements between surrounding jurisdictions. The purchase process strictly followed the appropriate bid procedure meeting all legal local and federal requirements.
The Northshore Fire Department is extremely pleased with the new vehicle. Some of the features included with this vehicle are seating for four rescue personnel, a 20 KW generator, a 4500 watt light tower, hydraulic rescue tools, technical rescue equipment and a breathing air filling station. These features are necessary to ensure National Fire Protection Association compliance, firefighter safety and that we are meeting and can continue to meet our community’s needs.
