As Alabama faces gas shortages, some fire departments in the state are making sure they have enough fuel to respond to emergencies.
A cyberattack disabled Colonial Pipeline, which runs from Texas to New York CIty. That pipeline provides 45 percent of all fuel consumed on the East Coast and has led to outages throughout the South.
Decatur Fire Chief Tracy Thornton has been monitoring the pipeline situation, as well as his department's fuel supply, WAAY-TV reports. He's already told firefighters to conserve as much as possible.
"We're trying to keep our trucks topped off with fuel, and we're also trying to limit the amount of extra time we're out on the roads," Thornton said. "The guys have been asked to correspond getting meals and stuff with calls that they run, try not to make extra calls, try to stay in house as much as they possible can."
The design of rigs, however, doesn't do the department any favors.
"Fire trucks, they're not real fuel efficient, you know," Thorton said. "They use a lot of diesel, and if we go to a house fire and we're running in that house fire, it uses a whole lot more fuel if we're pumping water and stuff, so it'll go through a good bit of fuel in one of those instances."
If the fuel ever gets too low, Thorton told WAAY that he's been exploring other ways to keep a supplied. Ultimately, the chief said the department will find ways to respond to emergencies.
"That's what our job is, we come to help you, and we deal with different things every day, and this is just another thing we have to deal with, and we're making plans, and we have no intention of not taking any calls we plan on being at every call that people call," he said.
