The Town of Wembley Fire Department has added a new vehicle to its equipment roster.
Last week, County of Grande Prairie council approved to donate the decommissioned squad truck to the department. District Fire Chief for the County of Grande Prairie Matthew Smith says the donation gives the department a small vehicle they can use for logistics.
“It gives the ability that the volunteers don’t need to drive their vehicles to training events in the region,” Smith says. “Or as the Wembley Fire Department we don’t have a pickup truck, so when it comes to there being incidents in our area or logistical needs for building our new training centre or even supplies for the fire hall we were always limited to what would fit into an SUV.”
Smith explains that a few years ago one of the old enforcement vehicles was donated to the Town of Wembley by the county but, with the amalgamation of the district chief into the county from the fire chief, that vehicle has temporarily been relocated leaving a void in the town.
That left the department with only emergency vehicles which includes two engines, both a county and town engine, a heavy rescue vehicle, a county water tender, a town brush truck, and the squad vehicle which is the SUV that is used for medical calls. The squad truck that is being added to the department’s vehicle roster is filling the operational gap in the department.
The 2011 Ford F-150, which has 190,000 km on it, was originally used as a medical response vehicle before it was decommissioned due to its age and mileage.