Lopez Fire Department Gets Grant for New Truck

The Lopez Fire Department, San Juan County Fire District #4, has been awarded a $175,500 grant to purchase a new pumper-tanker truck. The grant, written by Fire Chief Rob Miesen, comes from the Fire Account of the Office of Homeland Security and Domestic Preparedness. Miesen said his application was finally selected in the 23rd round.

One of the vehicles the Fire Department needs to replace is a 1966 Ford fire engine; the other is a 1969 International tanker. Miesen said he asked for funding to buy a combination pumper-tanker to replace both vehicles. The plan is to replace the old fire engine first, reassigning the tanker to a different station, and eventually replacing it as well. The Lopez Fire Department, as he pointed out, must comply to the same standards as the Seattle Fire Department; therefore maintaining and modernizing equipment is essential.

The Lopez Fire Department has a 10% co-payment responsibility, so the minimum it will be spending is $195,000, Miesen said. This week an operations committee will be formed from among the volunteer firefighters for the purpose of assessing the Department’s needs and what equipment features will fit the bill. Then the committee will take its specs to the vendors and go through the bidding process.

Miesen said that the Department needs a truck that will balance the need for a lot of water with the problem of moving the weight of that much water over island roads.

“We really do need a tanker with a large water supply,” he said. The Department also needs a truck that is not too tall to get under trees, nor too low to the ground to ride over bad roads. He said the foam pumper the Department bought last year has proved to work out very well, so that’s another possibility.

“We want it to fit the island,” he said. He said it may take a year or so to find and acquire the right vehicle.

Since becoming Fire Chief, Miesen has aggressively pursued grant funding for his department.

“From FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] alone,” he said, grabbing a calculator and punching in numbers, “we’ve picked up $222,500 in the last three years, and that doesn’t include state grants.”

The number of responses to Lopez fire calls in 2004 was 323, up from 281 in 2003. Added to funding from the levy lid lift passed by voters in November, which will be earmarked for maintenance and operations, Miesen said, “this grant comes at a great time for us. It’s one more tool that we need and that somebody doesn’t have to purchase.”

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