Evesham Fire-Rescue has replaced the hydraulic rescue equipment on both of our heavy rescue units. The new equipment replaces a system which has been in service in Evesham Township for about the past 30 years. The new equipment was selected after an evaluation of various manufacturers of hydraulic rescue equipment by a workgroup of both volunteer and career members.
Hydraulic rescue equipment is used to remove patients entangled or entrapped in vehicle accidents, industrial accidents, and other scenarios requiring heavy lifting, moving, and cutting of objects.
A large portion of the funding for this project was received through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program, which Evesham Fire-Rescue was fortunate to receive earlier this year. AFG is a federally-funded highly-competitive grant program which provides financial assistance to fire departments.
As a condition of the grant, Evesham Fire-Rescue matched a percentage of the grant total while the federal government provided the remainder of the total. Evesham Fire-Rescue received $44,100 in grant funding and matched $4,900 for total funding of $49,000. With the help of the grant funding, Evesham Fire-Rescue was able to replace the equipment with no increased cost to the taxpayers.
The hydraulic equipment was placed into service on Friday July 1, after 60 of Evesham Fire-Rescue’s firefighters received factory training on the new hydraulic tools. Just three days later, on Monday July 4 at 8 p.m., the hydraulic rescue tools were used to free a trapped occupant from a motor vehicle accident at Main Street and Evans Road in just 10 minutes time.
Chief Ted Lowden is “proud of the outstanding work performed by the workgroup in specifying this new equipment.” Lowden continued, “In addition to assuring the equipment was up to the tasks required, the workgroup also reviewed the integrity of the system, ease of use and cost of operation. This new equipment is without a doubt the best we can offer our citizens.”
