Angela Curio
The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
(TNS)
EAU CLAIRE — The Chippewa Valley Regional Airport has a new Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle. The 2024 Oshkosh Striker truck is the most recent update to the airport’s public safety equipment and eliminates the reliance on firefighting foam with intentionally added PFAS.
When asked if this new purchase was related to helping the city reduce PFAS in the Eau Claire drinking water, airport director Charity Zich said, “We had intended to acquire a new fire truck given the age of our existing truck. We held off on the transition to the F3 foam (Fluorine Free Foam) until we got the new truck so that we (could have) a clean slate with brand new equipment that had never utilized the previous foam.”
According to the press release, the new Striker truck is capable of carrying 1,500 gallons of water which can be dispensed from either bumper or the roof turret.
The previous 2005 vehicle will be retained as a backup vehicle and will ensure that equipment issues will not result in reduced operational capabilities or loss of airline flights.
The new truck cost approximately $884,000 and was primarily funded through the Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Plan with dollars obtained through aviation user fees.
“Thankfully, we don’t frequently need to use our aircraft rescue and firefighting truck, but we do need to have reliable equipment to ensure that we can respond to incidents, and that we don’t have operational issues with meeting the FAA requirements for airline service,” said Zich.
She said that “we respond to incidents a half dozen times a year. It’s, frequently not a fire (but) a precautionary measure when we respond. Usually somebody is having some sort of mechanical issue with their aircraft.”
To ensure the equipment is always ready for these incidents, Zich said that they “do daily checks on the equipment.”
“I would say the norm for airports to replace trucks is (about a) ten to 20 year time frame,” she said.
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