Town is home to national visitors attraction Old Sturbridge Village
Westmore, VT—KIMTEK Corporation of Vermont recently completed installation of one of its Firelite™ Series Transport Skid Units for the Sturbridge (Massachusetts) Fire Department.
According to Sturbridge Fire Chief Leonard E. Senecal, the KIMTEK Firelite Model FP-10 skid unit was purchased with a grant from the Department of Conservation and Recreation for use with its John Deere Gator™ utility vehicle.
Sturbridge has a population of about 10,000 and is home to the nationally recognized outdoor history museum Old Sturbridge Village, located just a mile from the firehouse. The museum is a non-profit educational institution demonstrating the everyday life of a rural New England town during the 1830s and includes over forty original buildings.
During peak season and for special visitor events held throughout the year, daily visitors to Old Sturbridge Village can number as many as 4,000.
In addition to protection for Old Sturbridge Village, conditions for which Chief Senecal anticipates the new KIMTEK transport skid to be well suited include brush fires, football games, and other town events that draw large crowds.
Designed for a mission
Affixed to pick-up trucks and utility vehicles, KIMTEK transport skid units are ideal for fire and medical rescue operations in remote locations too narrow or rugged for ordinary vehicles to easily traverse as well as for use maneuvering safely through large crowds. The Firelite transport skid unit purchased by the Sturbridge Fire Department includes a Pacer® pump with a poly tank and, most notably, a victim rescue area.
The ability to immediately transport a victim atop the skid is a unique and important feature, KIMTEK founder and president Kimball Johnson explained. “Reaching the site might be only part of the job,” Mr. Johnson said. “Transporting a victim swiftly to medical services is an option rescue personnel always want to have.”
Mr. Johnson, himself a volunteer EMT and firefighter, recently retired as fire chief from the fire-and-rescue department he founded in his own small Vermont community ten years ago. His first-hand knowledge of the limited resources towns have available for safety services and equipment compels him to design and build efficient first-response transport units like the Firelite Series and offer them at affordable prices.
Protecting a way of life
“The Sturbridge Fire Department has always been very supportive of our mission to accurately represent early Nineteenth Century life while helping us maintain the latest fire and safety precautions,” said Brad King, Director of Facilities and Grounds at Old Sturbridge Village. “Throughout the grounds here, essential fire and security equipment is disguised and hidden among authentic period displays.” The museum grants visitors access to about 200 acres of history in the form of working farms, mills, residences, shops, and more, attended by costumed history interpreters. To maximize the environmental experience for visitors, the Village has recently added woodland trails and river walks.
“With the possibility of our crowds numbering in the thousands as well as our opening more remote destinations among the grounds for trails and walks, we’re reassured to know our Fire Department has a Firelite transport vehicle at its disposal and so near our facility,” Mr. King said.
