FIREMEN SAVE CITY BIG BUCKS

Some multi-talented firefighters recently saved more than lives in Cape Girardeau -- they saved $23,000 for taxpayers.

Mark Hasheider, fire department training officer, said the department received grant money for a new aircraft rescue firefighting truck for use at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Although the ARF unit cost $218,000, 90 percent of the that amount came from the Federal Aviation Administration. The city paid the rest.

Instead of moving the old unit -- a 1988 Ford 1 ton pickup -- to another city department, the firefighters decided to turn it into a brush fire truck. The brush fire truck was on five-year capital improvement budget anyway, listed at $35,000.

"A brush truck is used on grass or field fires where our normal apparatus could not respond," Hasheider said.

The special vehicle also is used at the SEMO District Fair and Riverfest, where large fire trucks can't maneuver.

Wheeler Truck Equipment Co. in Morley put a new utility body on the truck, but firefighters customized it, installing a 200-gallon water tank, a pump and various outlets. They also made cosmetic changes to the vehicle.

"Normally, it would have gone back into the city fleet and been used for public works or something else," Hasheider said. "The city does an extremely good job of reusing vehicles."

In addition to working on their own vehicles, Cape Girardeau firefighters also maintain their own buildings.