The Duncan Banner

Local News

June 23, 2011

Comanche to add new fire trucks

David Laughlin The Duncan Banner

COMANCHE — Comanche Fire Department added more weapons to its fire suppressing arsenal.

The Comanche City Council approved the purchase of a new brush truck and incident command vehicle. The pair of units cost the city more than $43,000 — a fair trade for added public safety CFD Fire Chief David Coder said.

“These two units are of great importance for the City of Comanche,” Coder said. “The incident command unit will respond to all of our fires.”

Delivery of the new Chevrolet units will be in 10-12 weeks. Coder credits the council for its foresight in the purchase.

“(The council) has always been great to the fire department,” Coder said.

“They have helped us tremendously. This gives us more water to haul to a fire. We are able to haul about 12,000 gallons of water to a fire right now. Any little bit helps us a lot.”

More than 12,000 gallons of water, Coder said, will do damage to a grassfire.

Fire crews across Stephens County are dealing with a busy fire season — Comanche is no exception. Fortunately for Comanche, Coder said, CFD has been assisting with fires outside its jurisdiction moreso than fighting fires within its fire district.

“Around here, in Comanche, its been pretty quite,” Coder said. “We have been responding to other towns, though. We’ve been in Addington, Loco and back to Addington again in the past couple days. We’ve been pretty busy to say the least.”

The most recent notable fire, Coder said, was the old Comanche school. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.

“We had the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal in Monday investigating the fire,” Coder added. “The investigation is still ongoing and in its preliminary stages, though. I’m not sure when we will hear anything about the source or whatnot.”

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