County emergency services report: radio upgrades, tower leasing, battery fire risks and proposed fire truck purchase

Riley County emergency management and fire department leaders updated the commission Dec. 9 on radio-system repairs, a plan to lease communications space on county radio towers, emerging battery-fire risks from e-bikes and e-scooters and a proposed purchase of a dual-purpose fire truck located in Arizona.

Russell Stuckey, emergency management and McKinley fire (spokes: Emergency Management), told commissioners the county has made recent progress restoring the county radio system and asked the board to confirm continued interest in renting tower space to cell carriers, broadcasters and broadband companies. "Our primary targets would be cell phone companies, other types of broadcasting companies, radio stations. Evergy is one company that we currently have leads with that we are modifying, extending to go," he said.

Stuckey also described a national trend he heard about in trainings: lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and e-scooters can emit flammable gases while charging and present a difficult firefighting problem. Stuckey said the county’s current field practice is to focus on protecting exposures and, when a vehicle or battery fire is not adjacent to houses or other exposures, to allow it to burn rather than expend large water resources: "Our current policy, quite frankly, is if they're right not right next to a house or some other sort of exposure, we're pretty much gonna let it burn," he said. He described steps crews take if the fire is near structures — cool and remove the vehicle — and noted that batteries can re-ignite after initial suppression.

Fire officials reported they were moving toward implementing new fire-reporting software and continuing training, and they shared a personnel loss: a lieutenant with 44 years of service recently died from injuries sustained in an accident; department leaders asked the commission to pass on condolences.

On apparatus, the fire department identified a dual-purpose, four-wheel-drive truck in Arizona that staff said would fit a small station with minimal modification. Stuckey said staff would propose travel authorization to send personnel to inspect and, if acceptable, drive the truck home. The truck was described as maintained to Forest Service standards, with cruise control and a pump that had passed commercial pump tests in prior use; staff noted that the county’s older truck had a pump nearing the end of its useful life and would cost more than $20,000 to restore.

Commissioners asked staff to present formal travel and purchase authorizations at the next business meeting if the inspection shows the truck meets specifications. No purchase was approved on Dec. 9; the commission expressed general support for inspection and formal procurement steps.