Photo courtesy of Steve Pauken The City of Winslow has added a new 3,000-gallon pumper-tender truck to its fire response fleet. City Manager Steve Pauken (behind the wheel) says the unit is an integral part of the plan to upgrade the city’s fire protection services and is “also a great Christmas present to the city.”
By Nolan Madden Water. It’s an invaluable asset for sustaining life in the desert, even more so when it comes to protecting lives and property during a fire emergency. It can take several thousand gallons of the lifesaving liquid to put out a raging house inferno, which is part of the reason behind the purchase of a new 3,000-gallon mobile fire response truck the City of Winslow acquired this month for its fire protection squad. “Most house fires can be extinguished with 3,000 gallons of water, but that isn’t why we bought it,” said Winslow City Manager Steve Pauken. “We bought it because most of the areas where we respond to fires within the city aren’t equipped with hydrants. We also bought it to service fires along the Interstate highway, and for any railroad mishaps, since BNSF rail cars also aren’t fitted with hydrants.” Pauken says the pumper-tender will be instrumental in combating wildfires, which he says the city encountered as recently as last June. “It happened along the railroad tracks at the east end of town. I had gone home for lunch and when I walked out my front door on my way back to work I saw a huge plume of smoke. We had our brush truck working to put it out, but it was clearly losing the battle,” he related. Pauken explained that the incident was eventually resolved with the aid of Joseph City Volunteer Fire Department, which deployed its own 3,000-gallon pumper-tender truck, and the Arizona Department of Corrections fire response unit. “Our pumper-tender has the same size tank as Joseph City’s. They bought a quad-cab unit, so their vehicle is a lot longer than ours, but we didn’t figure we would need a six-seat model, because most of our responses are going to be right here in town,” said the city manager. According to Pauken, 3,000 gallons of water weighs about 24,000 pounds. The truck itself weighs around 25,000 pounds so, fully loaded, the unit is massively substantial. “The new truck lumbers down the road and isn’t as agile, so it isn’t going to arrive at a fire first; our Engines 1 and 3 will, simply because they can move more quickly. Engines 1 and 3 are each 750-gallon capacity, so by the time we get the 3,000-gallon unit on the scene, the smaller units will have emptied and our crews will be looking for water,” he noted. The city manager pointed out that the Winslow Fire Department at one time had a ladder truck on fleet, which was never replaced after being retired from service. Moving forward, the plan is to acquire a ladder truck within the next two to three years, Pauken says, which will better equip its crews to fight fires at the city’s larger commercial structures, such as the Safeway, Walmart, the former Bashas’ and Winslow Police Department complexes.
