Tailored for Oak Bay, the fire department’s new truck garnered provincial attention.
Fire Chief Dave Cockle spent a Sunday explaining the one-off to fellow fire department leaders while showing off the equipment during the BC Fire Chiefs Association conference Vernon.
Oak Bay knew it would replace the extended cab pickup with a 31-year-old public works box on it, as part of the equipment replacement plan. The funds were all there in the capital reserve replacement fund.
“It’s steel, it’s heavy, it’s rotting out,” Cockle said.
Really they just had to determine how best fill the role.
Additions and upgrades to the lighting on the truck were installed at no charge from Whelen Lighting in exchange for allowing it to be taken to the BC Fire Chiefs Association conference in Vernon last month. The Fire Chief has been intimately involved with all the aspects of the truck, however, Assistant Chief Marshall or myself can also speak to it if the Chief is not available.
Currently the battalion truck brings incident command, rescue and other equipment. Things such as ‘Jaws’ and airbags are on another truck
“What we’ve looked to do here is simplify that,” Cockle said.
All rescue, auto extrication and the like would be on the battalion truck that also features a command centre.
the natural progression of fire service vehicles is bigger. This truck is designed to work better in Oak Bay’s many narrow lane ways and accesses.
Oak Bay fire and municipal staff worked with InterContinental Truck to create a vehicle specific to local needs. The new Battalion One is a commercial Isuzu chassis with 14-foot aluminum welded box that will carry more equipment. “We created this vehicle for us,” Cockle said. “It gives us deployment options [and] it fits in the same space that the current Chev and utility box but it carries more equipment.”
The creation offers manoeuvreability for Oak Bay streets, efficiency (it’s diesel) and as a commercial vehicle, they expect it to last 15 years as opposed to the usual 10 adding the potential to purchase other larger equipment sooner.
When building the beast, they ordered the minimum required lights package, but Whelan Lights heard about the design they offered a $20,000 lighting upgrade at no charge.
“That was very significant for us,” Cockle said.
The catch was sending the truck to the BCFCA conference, where Cockle showcased the tailor-made Oak Bay truck with extended lights package.
The new Oak Bay Battalion One at the BC Fire Expo Vernon pic.twitter.com/aTeYdtroCt
— OakBayFire (@OakBayFireDept) June 4, 2017
“There was lots of interest in this style of vehicle especially for urban ares,” Cockle said. “It’s not for everyone but certainly for Oak Bay there’s efficiencies.”
The truck is expected in Oak Bay this week.