Pawhuska Fire Department Receives New Equipment From State Grant

The Pawhuska Fire Department has new equipment that it hopes will make rescues quicker and safer. The fire department got a new pair of cutters, spreaders and struts that it will use when responding to car wrecks and urban search and rescue calls.

The new tools will allow firefighters to cut through things like the metal of cars or help pry things open if someone is trapped inside. Pawhuska Fire did have a set of these tools already, but those tools were hydraulic and attached to the fire trucks. This means that firefighters were limited in how far the hydraulic tools could reach and how quickly they could be removed from the truck and used on the scene. These new tools are battery-operated which should make firefighters' jobs safer and easier.

"I think it'll be quicker and safer. When you have the hoses, you gotta worry about walking over the hoses. You gotta worry about where the hose is at. You don't want to crush the hoses and things like that. Here we can move around a little easier," Pawhuska Fire Chief Matt Tumleson said.

These new tools were not cheap. Tumleson credits an INCOG 8020 state grant for helping the town pay for the equipment. INCOG put up 80% of the funding for the equipment while the town paid the remaining 20%.

Without the funding from INCOG, Pawhuska would have had a difficult time buying the new battery-operated cutter and spreader since the set cost about $25,000.

The new equipment will not only allow the department to better serve Pawhuska residents, but other communities as well.

"This is what a lot of departments are going to is the battery-powered stuff so it just helps us get up with modern times and increase the safety, not just for the firefighters, but for the citizens and the surrounding area because we mutually aid a lot of smaller departments," Chief Tumleson said.

Even though the Pawhuska Fire Department will be using the battery-operated cutter and spreader, they will still keep the hydraulic set as well to use whenever they are needed.