ELK POINT – It’s been a long wait, but earlier this month, the Elk Point Fire Department finally received their shiny new 2024 Ford F-550 Rescue 2 truck.
Built by Hub Fire Engines in Abbotsford, B.C., the new unit boasts a long list of features ranging from slide-out trays that will accommodate the Jaws of Life and other rescue equipment on both sides to an extra long tool storage space below the deck, adding up to a vehicle that will especially be a valuable asset for wildland fire calls.
“It will get used a lot in the spring,” said Fire Chief Bryce Osinchuk, noting that there had been a large number of those fires this past spring, “and one carried on into the summer.”
Purchasing a unit of this type is not a quick process, Osinchuk noted. “We started looking for this and ordered it just before COVID arrived in 2021, and we’d been talking about it for a while before that.”
Equipped with a 250-gallon water tank and fire pumps needed to fight fires in remote locations, the truck is also able to tow the trailer carrying the department’s 6x6 bush buggy ATV “so we can operate as one,” Osinchuk added. Rescue 2 was also upgraded with super single wheels instead of duals, “and it can go anywhere,” because wildland fires are very often not easily accessible by full-size fire trucks.
What’s next on the fire department’s shopping list” Osinchuk said plans are underway for a new bush buggy, and the County of St. Paul has plans in the works for a new pumper truck for the rural fire calls.
