Lincoln Volunteer Fire Rescue debuts pair of new response vehicles

Two new emergency response vehicles have been turning heads in Lincoln in the last week.

Taking advantage of a grant program using CARES Act funding to respond to public health needs, Lincoln Volunteer Fire Rescue purchased and outfitted two new Dodge pickups for use as immediate response vehicles.

"It was 100 percent grant. No local funding was used for it," said Aaron Birkholz, the LVFR EMS manager.

The new vehicles replace two older Ford Excursions that served as the department's command vehicle and EMS Sprint Unit.

Birkholz first heard about a grant program that funded vehicles for emergency services during a weekly state EMS manager Zoom meeting last November.

"Somebody mentioned there was a grant program, but it was very quiet. It wasn't advertised and it was through the state from CARES funding," he said. "They said they didn't have any details on it, but they said you had to contact (Montana Association of Counties Executive Director) Eric Bryson"

Bryson, who served on the state's Coronavirus Relief Fund Advisory Council, has a history of working with both the Lincoln Volunteer Fire Department and Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance, when he served as the Lewis and Clark County Chief Administrative Officer.

"I called him, left him three e-mails and he never returned my call, so I though well, its out and over," Birkholz said.

But it turned out Bryson had just been out of state for a few days. When he returned, he got back to Birkholz and let him know he had just two days left to submit the grant application, including details for the vehicles they wanted to get.

Since the grant was only available to government agencies, it wasn't available to the nonprofit Lincoln Ambulance, so Birkholz wrote the grant to support the LVFR Quick Response Unit mission.

Birkholz researched the grant and found that, though the LVFR is a non-transporting QRU, they needed to have the ability to transport a patient in the vehicle if necessary. The new four-door pickups, which separates the bulk of the equipment from the passenger area, provide the additional space needed.

Birkholz said it took six or eight hours to write the $95,000 grant, but it took him a day-and-a-half to contact dealers to find suitable vehicles, and to find someone able to install the emergency response package. Since the unmodified trucks had to come in at less than $40,000 apiece, that proved a challenge, particularly since trucks were in short supply due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Birkholz worked with the Lithia Dodge dealership in Great Falls to purchase the trucks and with Auto Trim Design in Helena to build them out as emergency vehicles.

Birkholz said the grant was initially denied, but Bryson stepped in and asked that it be re-evaluated, since the state still had money available for the program.

Birkholz got the authorization on a Saturday in early December and had the trucks to Auto Trim the following week.

Getting the correct consoles and other accessories required for emergency vehicles presented another challenge. Fire Chief Zach Muse said the impact COVID-19 had on manufacturing last year meant everyone was behind in building and shipping the parts they needed. The necessary upgrades also pushed the limits of their budget.

"To outfit one of these trucks from nothing to what they should be, you're looking at 20 grand a truck and we had 18 grand to do both," Muse said. Birkholz said it was tight, but Auto Trim was able to figure it out.

Adding yet another challenge was the fact that both trucks were supposed to be completed by Dec. 31.

"They were hoping to have everything done by the end of December, but we at least were able to get everything paid for," Birkholz said. "Then we got notice from the state we got an extension because of COVID. Our consoles didn't even show up until last week."

An anonymous donor provided more help by buying better tires for the trucks. Muse was then able to sell the dealer tires that came with the trucks and used that money to fund a couple items they needed but couldn't afford.

Birkholz said the two vehicles are outfitted for their specific missions. About 90 percent of the equipment in the EMS vehicle is dedicated to medical response and life support. The new command unit dedicates about 25 percent of the space to medical and 75 percent to gear to fire and other recues responses.

"Everything from water rescue to avalanche rescue, search and rescue, to rope rescue," Muse said.

The new command vehicles were completed early last week and represent the latest in series of upgrades to LVFR's quick response capabilities in the last four years.

In 2017, TD&H Engineering of Great Falls donated a 2004 Ford Excursion to Lincoln Fire Rescue for use as an EMS Sprint Unit that could get to incidents ahead of the ambulance. The vehicle, which was outfitted by LVFR for emergency response using parts they had on hand or could purchase at low cost, was originally used by TD&H in the oilfields in eastern Montana.

Just last year, the department fielded a "new" command rig, a fully outfitted 2003 Ford Excursion they received from the Helena Fire Department to replace the 1990's era Ford diesel pickup that served in the role.

Although those vehicles brought added capabilities to the department, both had more than 100,000 miles on them. Muse said the new trucks are under warranty, are purpose-built and should require less maintenance than the older vehicles. Birkholz also pointed out they get about twice the mileage per gallon.

Rather than sell off the old vehicles, the tentative plan is to pass them along to organizations further down the valley.

Birkholz said they hope to transfer the older Sprint Unit to the Helmville QRU for about $2500. That money would be put toward further improvements to the LVFR vehicles. Birkholz said Helmville is interested in the sprint vehicle because it has an open back, which could allow them to use it to bring patients out of areas an ambulance can't get into.

Muse said it would also mean Helmville would no longer have to respond in their fire trucks, which have to be kept empty of water to prevent them from freezing during winter QRU responses.

Getting the old command unit to Ovando may be a bit more convoluted. The idea is to transfer title of the command unit to the Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance, which will provide it to Ovando for use by Emergency Medical Responders.

Birkholz explained that Ovando has no emergency medical services, but have three people who want to take part in an EMR class with the Lincoln Ambulance. Once that class happens later this year, the Ovando EMRs will fall under the Lincoln Ambulance license, and use the vehicle as medical response vehicle in the Ovando area.