Fire Equipment to Provide Increased Safety to Irving Residents

Irving residents will soon be safer thanks to the addition of new rescue equipment that will help the Fire Department provide an even quicker emergency response time. The life-saving tools were purchased through a $200,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security.

The new hydraulic equipment purchased with the grant will provide all 11 of the city’s engine companies with rescue equipment. Engine companies will carry a combination tool, which will give them multiple rescue capabilities in one piece of equipment—cutting, spreading and pulling. The maximum forces it can exert are 67,600 pounds for cutting, 16,166 pounds for spreading and 14,358 pounds for pulling.

The new, portable gasoline-powered unit that drives the rescue tools weighs less, which makes it easy for one person to handle. The newer equipment also uses core technology, a twin-hose design with one hose inside the other to make the 30-foot hose tangle resistant. Special couplers on hoses and power units also make connecting the tools quick and easy.

    

Also available are air bags that can be inflated to free a victim from beneath a car or lift heavy materials in a building

collapse. Struts are a valuable tool used to stabilize a vehicle or other object while the rescue or recovery is in progress. “The addition of this state-of-the-art equipment soon to be included with our engine companies will enable the Fire Department to achieve a higher level of rescue capability,” said Rusty Wilson, assistant fire chief.

These tools will be in use later this year once fire staff has been fully trained on proper equipment operation. The city currently has four truck companies located strategically throughout the city that provide accident rescue response for automobiles and semi-tractor trailers. The trucks are equipped with larger, more powerful spreaders and cutters carried on board for extrications and other emergencies. These implements have a maximum spreading force of 19,595 pounds and a maximum cutting force of 208,000 pounds, and are used to free trapped victims in major accidents.

Residents interested in getting first-hand experience with the tools can sign up for the next Citizens’ Fire Academy. Applications are available online.

For more information, call the Fire Department at  (972) 721-2514.