ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — They couldn't have done it any other way.
St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson admitted that there was no way the St. Louis Fire Department was going to get a brand new, first-of-its-kind fire truck unless someone was willing to donate it.
Enter Ameren Missouri.
"We all want to protect the infrastructure that keeps downtown running. Our fire truck donation will help firefighters better handle unique situations like underground fires," said Marty Lyons, chairman and president of Ameren Missouri. "All of us at Ameren Missouri appreciate the brave members of the St. Louis Fire Department, and what they do every day to keep us safe."
(Bill Greenblatt/UPI)
Not only does "Chemical Unit 1" fight underground electrical fires, it fights them with new technology designed to make post-cleanup far less messy.
"We used a powdery-like substance before," said Jenkerson. "It would delay the ability to repair these systems!"
Ameren and the fire department got together and looked at what other cities were using to fight electrical fires. But that wasn't good enough...they wanted something better.
"It's a one-of-a-kind piece of equipment," Jenkerson said. "We've put it to the test a couple times already. It's a life-saver because it reduces damage in the (underground) vaults."
(Bill Greenblatt/UPI)
The old powder system is no more. In its place, a system of CO2 gas and foam and an apparatus that injects the foam through a manhole cover.
Not only has it been used to fight a couple underground fires already, it was also used to battle the recent Affton chemical fire.
"We're also able to pump this foam a long way," Jenkerson pointed out to KMOX. "It's got a high-pressure pump on it, and we're able to pump into an aerial waterway, and deliver the product wherever we want it."
In addition to causing less damage, the new system is more efficient than the old system, which the fire department used on a truck Jenkerson described as being held together with "wire, Band-aids, and duct tape." The time to fight an electrical fire can be cut from hours to minutes.
The roughly $1 million truck is equipped with a 4,000 gallon CO2 tank, a foam agent system, a nozzle designed to fit Ameren Missouri equipment, a high-pressure pump, and a large dry chemical system.
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