Biloxi Fire Department receives vehicle for water rescues
BILOXI, Miss. (WXXV)- The Biloxi Fire Department is now better equipped to respond during severe flooding.
The department received a light medium tactical vehicle from the Mississippi Forestry Commission.
The vehicle is an important resource that allows crews to safely reach areas impacted by high water and assist with water rescues when traditional emergency vehicles are unable to respond.
Fire Chief Nicholaus Geiser says the vehicle is a great addition to the department’s fleet. “A lot of our flash flooding situations are pop up. It’s one of those things we can’t necessarily anticipate 100 percent of the time, and it’s a lot easier to just jump in a vehicle that can you know go in five, six feet of water versus hook it up to a boat, get the boat in. We’ve got to have people that walk the road because you don’t know if you’re eventually going to hit a mailbox, and these are inflatable boats. So, this one being you know, where we can go into really deep water without having to put people on the ground and walking through water that might have dangers in it, it’s going to greatly increase our capabilities during those high-water situations.”
Chief Geiser says the department was able to obtained the vehicle through a Mississippi Forestry Commission Program that provides decommissioned vehicles to fire departments for a hundred dollars.
The only requirement is that the vehicles are given a given a new color scheme. Chief Geiser says a local business helped out by giving it a coat of red paint.
