The Johnson County Fire Protection District placed three new fire engines, three new tankers and a new rescue truck in service during the past several months.

According to the district, the KME fire engines and KME tankers all on International chassis were purchased from Jon’s Mid-America Fire Apparatus in Rogersville. The Maintainer Custom Body (MCB) rescue truck on a four-door Ford F-550 chassis was purchased from Danko Emergency Equipment in Snyder, NE.

The engines have a 1250 GPM pump with a 1,000-gallon water tank. The tankers have 2,000-gallon water tanks and an articulating extendable rear dump allowing discharge on both sides and to the rear. The rescue truck has a custom-built equipment box featuring LED lighting, reels of hydraulic hose for hydraulic rescue tools and sliding storage trays to allow easy access to rescue equipment.

“The new equipment was purchased thanks to the support we receive from our voters,” Chief Larry Jennings said. “We have a large district and a large number of apparatus. The need to constantly replace aging equipment is always easier to do when our voters support and understand our needs in a world of ever increasing prices.”

The engines were designed with personnel safety in mind with lower access to hose lays, internal storage of equipment and increased equipment storage away from the personnel in the cab.

The purchase of this equipment supplements the delivery of two new fire engines and two new tankers in late 2019.

The JCFPD serves an area of approximately 525 square miles in the eastern two-thirds of Johnson County with the exception of Whiteman AFB and the cities of Warrensburg and Knob Noster. Operating out of 12 stations, the district has 13 fire engines, 11 tankers, 13 wildland fire trucks, one vehicle rescue truck, one air support truck, four UTVs, three water rescue boats and two water rescue trucks.