Lebanon fire department outlines trench-rescue program and plans to buy Squad 213; no council action

At the Feb. 24 council meeting, Lebanon Fire Department leaders described plans to develop a trench-rescue program, expand rope-rescue capabilities and place a new Squad 213 vehicle at the proposed Station 13. The presentation was informational; the council did not take action on the proposals.

Chief Patz said the department is pursuing trench rescue because of increased underground construction and the absence of a nearby specialized capability. "It would be our job to perform the rescue or the recovery to remove that person from the trench safely," the chief said, describing trench collapse scenarios and the high level of training and specialized equipment required.

Deputy Chief Matt Young is developing a bid list for equipment. The department said it has discussed sharing heavy equipment such as skid steers with parks, utilities and street departments for large incidents. The department’s target is to train more than 80% of firefighters in trench rescue by the end of 2025 and to have the program operational Jan. 1, 2026.

The department also described plans to build a Squad vehicle (a Ford F-450 crew cab with a 12-foot box) locally: the chassis bid was lowest from Patrick Ford (Lebanon) and the body-work low bid was from McKinley Fire Apparatus (Lebanon). The purchase would be funded from the plan-review non-reverting account (estimated at about $85,000) and proceeds from sale of the department’s older rescue truck (estimated $45,000–$47,000). The department said the chassis will take about 2.5 months to build, the outfit 3 months to complete, and the combined schedule would likely put the finished vehicle in October or November with crew training concluding by then.

Training costs were estimated at about $750 per person; the department said it is seeking private partners to offset training costs and cited prior outside funding partnerships for its rope-rescue program. The chief emphasized that the trench-rescue capability will also be available to neighboring jurisdictions on a mutual-aid basis, and that the department will not charge other cities when providing reciprocal assistance.

No council motion or funding appropriation was requested at this meeting; the department said it might seek additional appropriations later if plan-review funds are insufficient.