Fire department gains new hazmat truck

The Hoover Fire Department recently put a new $317,000 hazardous materials truck into service.

The truck, which is about the size of an 18-wheeler and resembles a long soft drink delivery truck, also includes $153,000 worth of new equipment to deal with hazardous materials, fire Chief Clay Bentley said.

“It’s like a big rolling toolbox,” the chief said.

Hoover spent $217,000 on the truck and about $15,500 to help pay for the equipment, with the rest of the funds coming from donations and grants.

Colonial Pipeline donated $100,000 to help buy the truck because of the assistance the Hoover Fire Department provided when one of Colonial’s gasoline pipelines near Helena experienced a major leak in September 2016 and later exploded in October 2016.

The Hoover Fire Department also obtained a federal grant that provided $137,500 of federal money for hazardous materials equipment.

Bentley said he realizes the truck the city purchased is expensive, but it was needed and his department was frugal in deciding which truck to purchase and how best to equip it. The department also worked hard to get outside funding assistance to lessen the burden on the city.

The new truck replaced one that had been donated in 1985 that resembles a bread truck or package delivery truck.

“It wasn’t very safe or maneuverable,” Bentley said.

It also wasn’t large enough to carry all the hazardous materials equipment the department had, and every time it was dispatched, a second truck had to go with it. The new truck holds all the hazardous materials equipment and can carry a full four-man crew.

Hoover donated the old hazardous materials truck to another nearby fire department, Bentley said.

The hazardous materials truck is used to respond to emergencies such as fuel spills, petroleum leaks or fires, railroad accidents, chlorine leaks at water treatment facilities, carbon monoxide calls and anything else involving any kind of hazardous chemicals or materials.

The truck carries testing and monitoring equipment, decontamination units, absorbent booms and pads, oil drying materials and different levels of protective suits for firefighters depending on the circumstances. It also has an air-conditioned hazardous materials command center with computers in the back.

“Hoover has more than 20 miles of interstates in the city limits, Bentley said. “We have a lot of hazardous materials being transported on Interstate 65 and Interstate 459 every day.”

The unit responds to about 100 calls a year, Bentley said. The new truck, put into service in September, is based at Hoover Fire Station No. 2 off Patton Chapel Road, and every firefighter housed there receives special hazardous materials training, he said.