Tyrone Fire Department recently took delivery on new equipment that will expand its fire fighting capabilities.
A skid unit, which includes high pressure fire hose and nozzles, is also equipped with tank automatic foam capabilities. This attachment adds foam to the water creating a more effective fire suppressant then water alone. The items were obtained through a $17,000 Federal Emergency Management Administration grant.
President Rueben Roedeske, who wrote it, said the department now has two brush trucks with foam-fighting abilities. This gives Tyrone the ability to fight certain fires faster and safer that are hard to extinguish, such as round hay bales and structures containing oil and grease products, he said.
Roedeske said the ability to add foam also allows Tyrone to fight grass and forest fires with less personnel. Tyrone, like other volunteer fire departments, is short on volunteer firefighters on weekdays when many are at jobs. Foam also allows the firefighters to extinguish the fire with less water. He said having enough water to fight fires is always a problem for volunteer fire departments.