By Alex Lloyd Gross
Kevin Dippolito, the Fire Marshall for Bristol Township in Bucks County got to show off a new addition to the township emergency services fleet. A small pumper that will be used as a Special Response Vehicle. It looks tiny and it is not a typical fire truck. You will not see this truck at operational calls such as house fires or routine car accidents. “It is mainly for our new township park which will open soon,” he said. It can go where a larger truck or ambulance cannot go.
“We can put medical equipment on it to get to a patient or in the case of a large scale incident that will be there for an extended time, we can use this to treat patients. Calls , such as an incident on I-95 or the turnpike,” Dippolito said.are examples of where it will be used off the grounds of the township complex. It will carry 100 gallons of water and foam. It will be called SRV225. The vehicle can travel at 30 MPH and is going to be put on a trailer and driven to incidents it it is needed off the complex grounds.
The cost to buy it new is about $25000.00 but the township got it for free. “This was donated by Window Wizards ( a local business). They had it for years and did not use it. “One day, they called me and offered it to us,” Dippolito said. All of the paid township firefighters have been trained to drive it. It has a 4-speed Manuel transmission. It is fully street legal.
On the township Fire Prevention event, it was put on display and Dippolito was happy to answer questions about it. It has not run any calls as of yet. The township has been in possession of it for about a month.