News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville Fire Department is expecting to get lightweight turnout gear for its firefighters this year.
Interim Fire Chief Benton Young said the gear will be a first for the department. Young said the gear will be better suited for events outside of structural fires.
“Where we can go out and work on an extraction on a car,” Young said. “And not have to wear that thermal layer that’s in your structural firefighting gear. Which if you’re standing on the interstate in a hundred-degree day, it makes it very miserable.”
Young said the lightweight gear will also be utilized in situations such as wildland fires, or search and rescues. He said the department has wanted the gear for some time, but hurdles like COVID and manufacturing lag made it difficult.
Young said the department plans on purchasing seven sets of turnout gear, an additional response vehicle, as well as 25 self-contained breathing apparatuses.
“The 25 SCBA bottles we are asking for are what’s called composite air cylinders,” Young said. “Basically for our SCBA packs. Our self-contained breathing apparatuses have a life span of about 15 years so they have to be replaced.”
Young said that the department’s new hires will use the turnout gear for fighting structural fires. He said the medical response vehicles are key when it comes to emergencies that need swift response rather than using the firetrucks.
At a Cookeville work session last week, Young explained the success of using the response vehicle rather than the large firetruck. He said that because they have been able to cut down on response time as well as get more use from it for emergency situations. Young cited last year’s ice storm as a prime example of where the vehicle was more useful than the firetruck.
