ODNR program, local business match results in brush truck for Hillsboro fire department

As spring winds pick up and field and brush fires become a hazard for area property owners, a repurposed former military vehicle will be leading first response.

Through the Federal Excess Personnel Property/Volunteer Fire Assistance, a program geared toward providing assistance to fire associations with populations less than 10,000 Hillsboro Fire and Rescue was able to acquire a brush truck. 

Rick Maier, program administration from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, which oversees the program, said that excess vehicles from the U.S Military is donated out for refurbishment to communities who can benefit from the vehicles. 

HFR receives a 1986 Chevrolet truck, and local businesses matched the donation by providing services to upgrade the vehicle. John Malone and Nick Malone, of Malone Trucking and Towing, who are the father and brother of firefighter Dustin Malone, donated a bed for the truck and bodywork. Koi Autoparts in Blanchester, represented by Larry Ahrmann, donated paint for the vehicle. 

The only costs the fire department had were the inspection fees and the title transfer fee, according to Maier. 

"We provided the truck, (Malone Trucking) provided the bed, (Koi) provided the paint - everyone comes together, we all get the benefits," Maier said. 

"The community benefits," John Malone said. 

Maier said the program puts good use of the excess vehicles by making them available for communities that can use them. If they were not donated to the fire associations, he said, they would be auctioned off.

"It's our first-out brush truck," said Chief Jerry Powell, and noted that it had been used on fires twice this week. "We had a fire on Hopkins lane the other day. If it had jumped state Route 73, we would have had a house fire."

The truck has 97,421, but the Maier said, "On a diesel engine, that's nothing."

Assistant Fire Chief Ed Puckett said the program requires that the truck be in service for a year, and then the department had to keep it for a year, and then it officially belongs to the city. 

"In the last three years, we've been able to donate $1.5 million in equipment to firefighters," Maier said. 

For more information on the program, visit www.odnr.gov.