When Black River overflows its banks, many residents can find themselves trapped by the flood waters and in need of rescue.
The Butler County Fire Protection District has added a new tool to its truck fleet to help firefighters navigate those flood waters during high-water rescues.
The department recently put a 1995 Stewart-Stevenson all-wheel-drive cargo truck into service.
The "big truck," as fire Chief Bob Fredwell describes it, was ready for the recent flash flooding.
"The (firefighters) were chomping at the bit to try it out, but I'm glad we didn't have to use it," he said.
The truck, Fredwell said, is a typical Army truck and was purchased from federal surplus.
"It's designed to go in bad conditions (and) designed better for what we want to use it for," said Fredwell, who indicated its cargo area has been equipped with seven bus seats.
With the seats, "when we go in high water, we can actually put people in the back of the truck," Fredwell said. "They will have a place to ride. Its also got a top on it to keep them out of the weather."
Fredwell estimates the truck is capable of carrying 15 people, but "usually when we go in and rescue in a high-water incident, we usually bring out six to eight people. We can bring out quite a few on each trip."
Prior to getting the truck, "we've been using our four-wheel-drive tanker trucks to do high-water rescues," Fredwell explained. "Those trucks also are used as firefighting trucks.
"We thought about getting a truck that is solely used for high-water rescues that way it won't put such a burden on our tankers."
The department, he said, had an older model Army truck that was used; however, it was getting hard to find parts for it and there wasn't really any place to carry passengers other than in the cab.
"This one gives us a lot more opportunity to carry more people at a time," Fredwell said.
Fredwell expects the truck to be used at the "beginning of a rescue because we can get in and out a lot faster than with the boats.
"Then, when the water gets so deep we can't use our truck, we'll go to our boat."
Fredwell believes any rescues will be "so much faster" using the truck.
There won't be a worry "about loading the boat off the trailer, launching the boat." Fredwell said. "If we drive straight to them with the truck, it's a lot quicker rescue.
"That's important when the water's coming up."
A lot of times when the boat was used, "we had deep water, then shallow water, then deep water, then shallow," said Fredwell, who indicated those conditions make navigating with the boat hard. "If we've got pavement, we just keep on going" with the truck.
The truck, he said, will be a "better tool" to navigate through flood waters.
"Where it's going to pay off is probably on the flooded highways," Fredwell said. "It doesn't usually get that deep on the highways that you can't get through with a truck.
"Our other trucks work fine, but this one will let us go into deeper water. Plus, it's going to save our other trucks, too."
Fredwell believes the truck can safely go through up to 4 feet of water without putting anyone at risk.
Since its arrival in early December, "we did all the fabrication and painting," said Fredwell. The once Army-green truck now is painted red to match the other trucks in the department's fleet.
In addition to the bus seats, the truck is equipped with a ladder, which can be lowered for easier access to the cargo area.
The water-rescue truck is the first of two being added to the department's fleet this year.
"The second truck, we ordered a brand new ... 2,000-gallon tanker pumper," said Fredwell, who expects it to be delivered later this week. "It's going to be a first-line tanker truck" at the main station on Business 67.
It will replace a 2,000-gallon tanker "we have in service now," Fredwell explained. "We're going to move (that tanker) to a substation" to upgrade the fleet there.
The main station's three front line trucks, which includes a 3,000-gallon tanker, will be 2015, 2016 and 2018 models.
Upgrading trucks, Fredwell said, is part of doing business, and something the district's board of directors is doing "as we go."
"For a long time we were buying trucks and putting trucks into service," Fredwell said. "Now, we have pretty good trucks in service and are constantly trying to upgrade" them "when we need to."
The constant upgrading of equipment, said Fredwell, who works hand-in-hand with the board of directors, is to "make fire protection better" in an effort to lower the district's fire rating even more.