LINCOLN – The Fire Protection Technology Program will be getting a long-awaited fire engine this spring according to Program Chair Terry Spoor of Lincoln.
Spoor stated that “We were very fortunate to be approved for a new fire engine.”
The Pierce Responder model engine mounted on a 2012 Freightliner chassis is slated to arrive in late spring.
“When I read the proposal, I was pleasantly surprised,” Spoor began.
“There were no modifications needed,” he noted, “and the price was competitive.”
The Fire Protection Technology Program, located in the loop just behind the main Lincoln SCC campus, had been using two fire engines to train fire fighters.
Although they were both “retired and functionally obsolete,” they still served their purpose to provide adequate safety training.
One fire engine, a 1990 model, had been on loan to the program for 5 years for the use of SCC students. The other fire engine was a 1982 model that had also been used to train new fire fighters.
The students and instructors had been hoping to receive a new fire engine since they applied for it last year. However, they weren’t able to get approved until this year because of the high cost of a new fire engine – roughly $180 thousand dollars.
“(The new unit) can support all hands-on firefighting classes – particularly our beginner classes,” Spoor stated, and “it includes enhanced safety provisions to meet National Fire Protection Association standards.”
He further noted that previous models lacked some of the current technology that met these standards, including “the electronic pump pressure control, which none of our other trucks have. It says a lot about the program and college that we’re making this kind of investment in the students’ future…in preparation for their career in fire protection services.”