TRAINING FLEET

Since the infancy of SFRT, when it was known as PSO (Public Service Occupations) in the 1970's under the Department of Education and Kentucky Tech within the Workforce Development Cabinet of state government, we have had some form of "fleet" to assist our training instructors in getting portable equipment and materials into the fire departments for training. Each SFRT Area (or region as known back then) had at least 1 van assigned. Nearly all were "cargo vans" with open space and 2 seats for the driver and a passenger. Some of these vans survived to serve us into the new millennium when Area 9's 1978 Chevy van, with over 270,000 miles, was traded in for a new 2000 Dodge. Area 9 still had a 1987 GMC Cargo van in service until 2006 when it was replaced with a new Ford E350 15-passenger Van.

In 1997, State Fire Rescue Training with the assistance of KCTCS and the Kentucky Fire Commission purchased 3 Ford F350 dually pickups and established the first 3 depots for SFRT to serve the entire state with mobile training props and equipment trailers, with the smoke maze being the largest in the fleet. These vehicles and trailers were assigned to Areas 3, 12 and 14. These areas became to be known as the "fleet depots" of SFRT, with Area 14 Coordinator Charles Shaw appointed to head up the fleet program. Since the inception of the fleet program, nearly 100% of its operational costs to provide mobile training has been funded through and by the Kentucky Fire Commission.

By 2000, each of SFRT Area's had a 1-ton van assigned to its area to transport portable training equipment to its area departments to better provide a hands-on approach to training. Areas 1 and 9 were the last to receive new vans, completing the program of getting at least 1 vehicle in each area across the state. Nearly every area had at least 1 trailer, predominantly firefighter survival/rescue training prop trailers.

In 2001, the three F350 trucks were replaced with F550 trucks to allow SFRT the ability to transport larger trailers and equipment across the state, such as the Flashover Simulation trailer. This improvement to the fleet graduated the 3 original depots to "Senior Depot" status and the 3 F350 trucks were kept in service and transferred to Areas 2, 7 and 9 creating 3 "junior depots". In 2002, an additional F550 truck was placed in service and assigned to Area 9 in Morehead, with Area 9's F350 going to Area 5 in Elizabethtown.

Around 2004, most of the vans in the fleet were being replaced with F350 dually pickups, as the vans had difficulty pulling some of the trailers in the fleet, especially the heavy survival/rescue trailers. With the acquisition of these additional pickups, the fleet has continued to grow adding several larger trailers and props to some areas. Do to frequent need for passenger vans to assist with some special state details of the fire commission, vans have been kept in the fleet in Areas 3, 9 and 14.

In 2007, SFRT was moved into the next realm of progression with its fleet through continued support from the Fire Commission. A commercial Freightliner truck was placed into service at Area 14 to move the Fire Commissions Mobile Driver Training Simulation unit safely from place to place around the state to provide state of the art training to the states firefighters and first responders. With several large heavy trailers in the fire commissions fleet, such as the flashover simulation trailer, the fleet has been further expanded to include another Freightliner truck now assigned to Area 12 and a Ford F650 truck placed in Area 9 to replace its F550 truck that has been plagued with engine and transmission problems.

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