Commissioners renew equipment agreements for volunteer fire departments, praise chassis program

County commissioners approved annual equipment agreements for volunteer fire departments that the county maintains in inventory across the county. An Emergency Services staff member said the county provides a broad range of equipment to volunteer departments — notably communications gear and apparatus — and highlighted a county “cabin chassis” program. “They’re then able to use those cabin chassis to develop either typically off road brush pumper type equipment, or, some of them have gone to light rescue units, some of those have gone to command units,” the staff member said, adding the program receives recurring accolades from jurisdictions across the county. Commissioners asked for clarification about a specific pilot equipment allocation to Forest Park; staff identified the agreements as annual renewals and recommended approval of items 20 through 24. Commissioners moved, seconded and voted in favor. The county did not identify dollar amounts for each agreement in the meeting record and did not name the individual volunteer departments beyond general references to county inventory and one pilot allocation.