Firetrucks to receive upgrades after $20,000 donation
May 22—A $20,000 donation from an area company will allow the St. Joseph Fire Department to replace aging equipment on its trucks.
Kurt Fuehrer, chief of training for the St. Joseph Fire Department, said a bulk of the funds, which were donated by Ag Processing Inc., will go toward upgrading Fire Engine 2, which is based in the city's South Side.
"Right now, we're looking for some hoses, a lot of rescue equipment, hand tools ... anything that we just use on a day-to-day basis that's approaching some 30 years (of age) now," Fuehrer said.
Providing newer hoses to the arsenal of the firetrucks is a huge need for firefighters to carry out their daily work. The need has been more dire as of late, according to Assistant Fire Chief Jamey McVicker.
"Recently we've noticed a lot of the glue between the jacket of the hose is starting to release. What that does is when they catch that, that stops operations, they've got to fix it, and then they can start operations again," McVicker said. "To eliminate that worry, it means a lot."
McVicker said the men and women in the department have taken great care of the tools at their disposal, but it's time to provide the firefighters with upgrades.
"One of the things that we try to do here is have a good replacement program. Instead of holding on to something for 30 years, let's be proactive and have a program where we're getting the most life out of it," McVicker said. "The newer equipment in these trucks provides a little more reliability, a little more efficiency for our staff to be able to protect our citizens."
Troy Moling, AGP communications manager, said the donation is part of the company's philanthropic efforts across all of its locations, including St. Joseph.
"It's just a way of showing thanks for the first responders who help out not only our employees and their families, but just the greater community as a whole," Moling said.
Now that the department has funding in place, the goal is to have a fast turnaround for receiving equipment. In the long run, the goal is to have the department utilize the new equipment for the next 15 to 20 years.
"We're hoping to get it ordered (the equipment) as soon as we can. With the supply chain issues, some of the things are taking six, eight months to come in. The quicker we can get it ordered, the quicker we can get it on the trucks," Fuehrer said.
Additional funds are incoming. According to the fire department, it is also set to receive an additional $10,000 donation for equipment upgrades from CoBank.
Riley Funk can be reached at riley.funk@newspressnow.com.
