Officials: New fire trucks will quicken response time, increase coverage area

WINDOW ROCK

The Navajo Nation fire department received eight new fire vehicles to distribute among the eight departments throughout the Nation on Monday.

The departments receiving the vehicles are Window Rock, Fort Defiance, Chinle, Tuba City, Twin Arrows, Newcomb, Ojo Amarillo, and Shiprock.

Tuba City and Window Rock will be receiving the Avengers, Chinle and Fort Defiance will receive the rescue units, Ojo Amarillo and Shiprock will receive the Brush units, and Newcomb and Twin Arrows will receive the Timberwolfs.

The trucks were purchased through Velocity Fire Equipment Sales.

Michael Todd, sales engineer, said it was a unique honor and privilege to be the Nation’s choice for firefighting equipment.

The funding to make this possible came through a portion of the sales tax on the Navajo Nation.

Fire Department Capt. John Williams said since the 1980s the fire department has asked for funding because they were previously working off a budget of $500,000.

This changed in 2018 when the department, with the help of Fire Chief Larry Chee and Director of the Division of Public Safety Jesse Delmar, began working on legislation to allocate 1% of the Nation’s sales tax to the fire department and this was approved.

“It’s (new fire vehicles) really going to help build momentum for our Navajo Nation Fire Department,” President Jonathan Nez said. “They’re also renovating and rebuilding some of the fire stations and it’s because of the sales tax.”

Nez said during the pandemic, many people spent money in the Nation and he encourages people to spend money on Navajo land because a portion of the sales tax goes to the fire department.

“As long as we continue to purchase here, that stream of funding will continue to go to the Navajo Nation Fire Department,” he said.

Williams said the process of receiving these new vehicles began in 2019.

“These vehicles, they’re not like a car lot,” he said. “They’re not sitting there ready to be purchased and everything like a regular vehicle. You have to spec them out, you got to order them, you got to get everything spec’d out the way you want it.

Delmar said a fleet like this was nonexistent on the Navajo Nation.

Since this equipment is available, Williams said aging vehicles will finally be replaced. Some vehicles date to 1983.

He also said the service distance from the stations will be expanded a little more due to the new vehicles.

Nez said this new equipment is the first step to making the Nation’s fire department No. 1 in Indian Country.

“These are state of the art equipment, they’re specifically built for the terrain here on the Navajo Nation,” Nez said. “The bigger fire trucks, they’re four-wheel, they don’t build them like that in the cities so these were specifically built for the terrain that we’re in.”

Nez said the vehicles will also help with response in the rural parts of the Nation.

“Before we weren’t able to take vehicles like this to way out in the rural parts but now we got the equipment to do that,” he said.

Chee said the department still has quite a ways to go to meet the goals of providing adequate fire protection.

“We only ask for support to provide better services,” he said. “We realize change is not easy, but by accepting change in how we do our jobs, practicing teamwork, and mentoring others, we can make those changes to better ourselves to provide better direct services to our communities.”

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