Saturday April, 1 2023

Nature: Indian River Spotlights All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs)

Location: Oak Orchard

The Indian River Volunteer Fire Company would like to highlight off-road emergency response units that can be utilized in diverse terrain and weather to mitigate brush and wildland type fires as well as being a multi-purpose response vehicle during large events, crowds, and other hard to access areas.

Indian River, like many fire departments, has taken the next step in off-road emergency responses by outfitting available all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) for fire suppression, search and rescue operations.

The rationale for utilizing ATVs were varied with both urban, suburban, and rural components, such as:

• Providing services for large crowd events (e.g., firework displays, NASCAR & Firefly events, fairs, festivals, protests) where normal-size emergency response apparatus use is not practical.

• Providing services following severe weather events (e.g., tidal conditions, hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms) when normal response routes have been rendered impassable or destroyed.

• Providing services in largely rural areas (e.g., agricultural, wildlands and wildland urban interface areas) as more residential dwellings have been built but the infrastructure to support emergency response apparatus may be lacking.

• Providing services to large recreational areas (e.g., golf courses, state and federal parklands) where infrastructure to support emergency response apparatus does not exist.

• Providing rapid fire suppression services to early-stage wildland, brush, and agricultural fires that have rough terrain that needs to be navigated.

• Providing emergency service responses in towns or municipal areas with congested traffic or narrow roads, where other vehicles cannot readily get through.

Indian River's ATV unit information and specifics can be viewed via the following links:

• 2011 Polaris MHA All-Terrain Vehicle 6x6 - UTV 80 (Polaris 80) - https://irvfc.com/apparatus/detail/4635

• 2022 Polaris PRO XD 4000G On-Demand 4x4 – UTV 80-2 - https://irvfc.com/apparatus/detail/46763

Illustrated herewith is recognition that Polaris bestowed upon the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company in its - Success Stories Section of their website - https://military.polaris.com/en-us/stories/fire-rescue/polaris-ranger-increases-mobility-indian-river-volunteer-fire-company