WA Fire Station Receives First New Apparatus in 21 Years

WOODLAND, WA—The Scott Avenue fire station received a new engine May 25 to save money and increase safety.

The engine is one of three the Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue purchased and will receive by the end of the year. Each rig cost $627,000. A fourth new engine was purchased for $650,000 through a federal grant given to the Cowlitz Indian tribe. The tribe will donate the engine to the department to use until it is decommissioned, said Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue Chief John Nohr.

The previous Woodland engine was in use for 21 years, Nohr said, which is about six years longer than departments "like to run engines." The older Woodland engine will be used as a reserve vehicle.

Nohr said replacing older vehicles decreases the amount of time and money spent on maintenance.

By August, the department's La Center station will receive a new engine. The two other stations will receive a new engine each by the end of the year.

Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue serves about 40,000 over 125 square miles in La Center, Ridgefield, Woodland and the Cowlitz Indian Reservation.

Ceremony

May 25, 13 firefighters and Woodland City Administrator Pete Boyce pushed the 38,000 pound new engine into the Scott Avenue station's bay without the motor on "in honor of tradition," said Nohr.

Firefighters in the 1800s pushed horse-drawn engines into bays because "horses can't back up," Nohr said. He said stations reenact the historical "push ins" to celebrate the addition of new rigs.

Firefighter Kevin Saari pushed Woodland's last new fire engine into the Scott Avenue bay in 2000, and again May 25.

Saari was a Woodland firefighter before the department was dissolved in 2013 and the city began contracting with Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue for services.

"It's an honor to have run the first and last emergency incident on the old engine," Saari said.

Safety

Nohr said the second-highest cause of death for fire personnel is vehicle accidents when responding to or returning from emergencies.

The new engine has enhanced safety features like anti-lock brakes, airbags and rollover prevention, he said. The engine includes a 730-gallon water tank, three different sized ladders and a roughly 2,500 foot hose.

Nohr said the department also participates in an app called Waze that alerts users of nearby emergency vehicles on their mobile devices in case they can't hear sirens over their loud radios.

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