Three separate grants totaling $2.2 million have purchased nine firefighting vehicles for the San Diego County Fire Authority benefitting rural communities. The equipment will be in service starting Monday.
“We have had a huge addition of new fire equipment just this year,” said San Diego County Fire Authority Chief Howard Windsor. “The apparatus are assigned to fire stations in the east and south county and bolster our fire and emergency services for over 1 million acres of unincorporated area.”
The grants provided funding to purchase six new water tenders valued at approximately $200,000 each, two wildland interface fire engines valued at $464,000 each, and a patrol vehicle valued at $147,000. The grants include:
• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Community Development Block Grant funds awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the County’s Housing and Community Development Department. This grant funded the purchase of two water tenders currently assigned to the Warner Springs and Jacumba fire stations and a wildland interface fire engine currently assigned to the Warner Springs fire station
• Indian Gaming Local Community Benefit Committee funding for two water tenders assigned to the Intermountain fire station and the Monte Vista fire station.
• Community Development Block Grant funding through the County’s Housing and Community Development Department. The grant provided funding for two water tenders: a Type 1 Multi-Use Fire Engine, and a Type 6 Patrol Vehicle. The water tenders are assigned to the Lake Morena and Ranchita fire stations, the Fire Engine, to the Dulzura fire station and the Patrol Vehicle is assigned to the Ocotillo Wells fire station.
In the last four years, the County has purchased 20 fire engines and 17 water tenders.
For more information about the County Fire Authority, visit: http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/Fire_Authority_page.html.
