Friday update:
On Friday’s WTAW’s Infomaniacs program, College Station fire department (CSFD) Lt. Josh Varner worked seven years to bring a new hazardous materials response vehicle to the fleet. He says the vehicle is meant to be used at long-term and large-scale events. Recent examples included a train derailment near Navasota, an oil well blowout in northern Grimes County, and an incident involving anhydrous ammonia in south Brazos County. 38 firefighters are also certified as hazmat technicians that can use the vehicle.
CSFD batallion chief Robert Mumford thanked the city council for funding the nearly $700,000 rig. It is housed at fire station six at University and Tarrow, and the public is invited to take a look.
Click below for comments from Robert Mumford and Josh Varner, visiting with WTAW’s Scott DeLucia:
Original story:
The start of Thursday’s College Station city council meeting will be checking out the fire department’s new hazardous materials response vehicle.
Council members and visitors attending the 4 p.m. meeting will gather just south of city hall, in front of the former fire station bays, to learn more about the rig.
Features include:
· CSFD has planned for such a vehicle for seven years
· Funds were made available in FY2015 budget
· Vehicle cost: $650,500 (fully equipped will add approx. $40,000)
· Replaces two trailers and will be based at CSFD Station-6 at University Drive/Tarrow
· Will be deployed anywhere in the seven-county region of the Brazos Valley Council of Governments
· Size of the vehicle was based on lessons learned during the 2009 El Dorado chemical fire in Bryan, as well as through other local incidents and training exercises.
· Those events identified the need for space that would fully accommodate operations/command, multiple personnel, rehab and research, unlimited air supply and improved lighting, climate control for haz-mat suits, increased storage and more efficient overall incident response.
