Weeks after the devastating fire at Osceola Farm & Home, the losses keep adding up.
Ty Wheeler, Osceola city administrator/clerk, reported the fire department’s gear became saturated with chemicals and oils while combating the fire. He said the gear was sent to be cleaned in Minneapolis, Minn., but the damage was too great. The gear is reportedly ruined.
“Those chemicals can’t be extracted out of the equipment ... they just couldn’t be cleaned,” Wheeler said.
The fire at Osceola Farm & Home began approximately 5:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 26. No injuries were reported with the fire, which is fortunate since the inferno was severe enough to have eight area fire departments respond to the call for mutual aid.
Those eight departments were Murray, Creston, Woodburn, Weldon, Osceola, Truro, New Virginia and Leon.
The farm and home building, which also housed a tire shop, was considered a total loss after the fire.
Jeff Edwards, owner of the long-standing Osceola business, said they will rebuild the store.
Losses
As for Osceola Volunteer Fire Department, the cost of buying new gear could be as high as $40,000, or more.
According to Osceola Fire Chief Mike Fry, the oil products from items in the building got into the hoses, coats and pants of the volunteer firefighters.
Wheeler said it’s all classified as “bunker gear.”
The gear Osceola firefighters were wearing at the scene of the farm and home fire was only a year old.
Fry said, of the 18 “newer” sets of fire gear, 12 sets were ruined while fighting the flames.
Fortunately, the fire department has an older set of gear firefighters can use when responding to emergency calls. However, there is a slight catch to the old gear situation.
Too old
Fry said the backup equipment firefighters have to wear now is from 2001, which puts it at 13 years old.
“The gear’s only good for 10 years,” Fry said. “It starts to lose it’s integrity. It may still look good, but it’s not recommended for structural firefighting.”
Basically, the old gear that has to be used now is out of code.
There is also the unfortunate fact that winter provides some of the greatest risks for structural fires, and the cold and snow weather has already arrived in November.
“This is house fire season,” Fry said.
Replacements
According to Wheeler, the city is working on a quote and getting bids out for the new equipment that needs to be purchased.
“We have to replace the gear,” he said. “We can’t operate long term with the old gear because there is a life span on that stuff.”
Wheeler said, if quotes are in by December, it could take a few months for the gear to make its way to Osceola, putting an arrival date of late winter or early spring.
However, the situation could be hastened along.
Fry said, in the process of talking with different equipment suppliers, the gear could be shipped more quickly since the fire department has come into an unforeseen situation. It might be possible to put a rush on the shipment.
“We’ll get by for now,” Wheeler said.