Brian Bendele: Last year's wildfires engulfed half-a-million acres, of
Oklahoma, destroying more than just homes.
After battling these fires, many rural fire departments were left with
broken down and beaten up equipment.
Dwight McCullar: It's pretty sad when you're going to a fire, and the
public beats you to the fire.
Brian: And that is something the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture,
Food and Forestry hopes to fix.
Dwight McCullar is a volunteer firefighter with the Byers fire department
and is receiving one of 246 trucks that were given away, to much deserving
rural fire departments.
McCullar: We are really expecting another rough year.
We're not looking forward to it, and this will definitely help us out in
our fight.
Brian: Directory of forestry services, John Burwell, says outdated
equipment has been a major problem, plaguing many of the rural fire departments
around the state.
John Burwell: A lot of the fire departments were responding to fires, last
winter, with dilapidated trucks, pretty much worn out trucks, and this
should make quite an impact on their ability to respond to wildfires in
the future.
Brian: The state legislators set aside 16 million dollars to help
rural firefighters, 5 million of which was spent to purchase the new cab
and chassis, and the rest was used for other repairs; secretary of
agriculture, Terry Peach.
Terry Peach: We were able to repair a lot of that equipment last year,
replace some other equipment that was totally lost in those fires, plus
buy some additional safety equipment.
Brian: These trucks will be used as brush poppers, allowing the fighters to
drive off-road and get closer to the source of the fire.
Burwell: Well getting it this early in the year will give them an
opportunity to put tanks and pumps, and beds and boxes on these trucks, and
they should be ready to go by the spring fire season, easily.
Brian: A timely gift as preparation and good equipment are key when
fighting fires.