By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Logandale Fire Station #72 volunteers are trained on a new emergency response ATV on Saturday. Photo by Vernon Robison.

The Logandale Fire Station #73 is now home to a rather unorthodox emergency vehicle. Last week the station received a brand new Polaris Ranger Crew 800 to assist in its rescue capabilities, especially in the remote desert trail areas surrounding the Moapa Valley.

Station #73 Chief Tim DeBerardinis said that the new vehicle is intended to transport emergency responders and basic medical equipment to and from emergency sites in areas like the Logandale Trails system.

“We get an average of at least one call per month to hte Logandale Trails system,” DeBerardinis said. “Up to this point, the problem was getting our responders to the scene of the accident in a safe, efficient and organized way.

“Before now we didn’t have a vehicle to take down into the trails system. Our rescue unit has gone down before and gotten stuck many times. So our volunteers are driving private vehicles to the restroom area at the trails and then they have to get a ride with people out there or with Metro officers to get to the scene of the accident.”

DeBerardinis explained that the respondents usually arrive to the staging spot at different times and have to go one by one in different vehicles to the scene. This has caused confusion and people to get lost enroute. It also causes liability issues as the volunteer respondents are not covered under the Clark County Fire Department (CCFD) Risk Management if not travelling in CCFD designated vehicles.

“This vehicle will allow us to get our personnel to the site safely,” DeBerardinis said.

DeBerardinis stated that it had been something of a challenge to get the approval from CCFD officials to employ Moapa Fire District funds for the purchase the $22,000 vehicle. That is because it was so far outside of the norm, he said. The vehicle is the only one of its kind in the CCFD inventory.

“We had to do about a month’s worth of research to put our case together and justify the purchase to the CCFD,” DeBerardinis said. “But once we got our message across they saw the need for it.”

The new ATV was purchased by the Moapa Fire District from Extreme Powersports in Mesquite after an extensive bid process. The vehicle has been outfitted with emergency equipment and especially modified to allow for quick reliable response to the outlying areas.

The vehicle is equipped with a secured stretcher on the back for carrying out patients in case of an emergency. DeBerardinis said that the stretcher is meant to only be used in extreme situations.

Other modifications to the vehicle include a three inch lift in the suspension, full roll bars, hard top, 8 ply tires, a front end winch and a bank of floodlights and emergency lights.

“When we put the proposal together, I actually met with the people at Extreme Power Sports and asked them what extras they would want to have on a vehicle like this,” DeBerardinis said. “They came up with some excellent suggestions.”

Volunteers from Station 73 came spent time on Saturday morning training on the operation of the vehicle.

“We recommend that everyone who operates the vehicle get at least two hours of training in the vehicle,” said Trent Graves of Extreme Power Sports. “While it is similar to other road vehicles in that it has a steering wheel and gas and brake pedals, there are some significant differences in the way that it handles.”

DeBerardinis said that he was determined to make the station’s use of the vehicle be a model for the community of safe ATV use. That includes safety goggles and helmets for all operators on the vehicle.

“We’d like for our safety efforts to be as visible as possible to the community,” he said. “After all, if we are not protected, we can’t help anybody.”