by Carol Stevens
Gardner- Upper Huerfano Fire Protection District (HUFPD) now has bragging rights to state of the art fire fighting equipment. A Compressed Air Foam (CAF) unit was purchased, from funds in the department’s operating account. A board member learned of a demo unit up for sale, and informed Fire Chief Brian Sharp. The unit has been placed on the former first responder truck. Chief Sharp was very pleased with this new addition to the department. He said, “It’s a big leap for the department. The department’s tactics will increase with this unit.” The unit will be completely ready for use by Halloween.
Even though the unit has a 100 gallon water tank, it is portable, and can be used on other vehicles. Sharp stated foam is far better than other methods in fire fighting, due to the heat reduction and suffocating agent capabilities. It can produce enough foam to fill an average sized room. In wild land fire fighting, the department can lay a line of foam much quicker than digging a trench line.
Future plans for this unit is to place it on GB501, a brush truck currently equipped with pump and roll capabilities. Adding the CAF unit will make it an unstoppable force against wild land fires.
Chief Sharp commented the department is accepting applications for the fire department. Training is every second and fourth Saturday at 9 am, in the fire house. If anyone living in the Gardner fire district, and has any questions, they can contact Chief Sharp, Diana Cupps or Buzz Deardorff.
