By Ryan Seals
News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
Copyright 2007 News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
All Rights Reserved
SUMMERFIELD, N.C. — Emergency response in remote areas around Summerfield is about to get faster thanks to the addition of a dirt bike to the Summerfield Fire Department’s motor pool.
Prompted by the death of a man who had a heart attack on a trail in the Polo Farms and Lake Brandt area in early January - and the difficulty emergency responders had in finding and reaching him - Summerfield Fire Chief Ricky Boykin said it was time for the department to analyze its off-road capabilities.
“It took quite a bit of time to get to him,” Boykin said. “We wanted to get a motorcycle to use to get to remote places you can’t get to other than by foot. You can get to them on a bicycle, but with a motorcycle, you can do it quicker, and you aren’t as winded.”
The dirt bike - a Kawasaki KLX 250 - cost $4,250. The department also purchased two mountain bikes for a total of $900, and spent an additional $600 on safety equipment such as helmets. All of the equipment was purchased through the department’s general fund account.
The dirt bike will allow for two firefighters - equipped with a medical bag and an automatic electronic defibrillator, or heart-shocking machine - to take off directly from Station 9 on Summerfield Road to respond to a call. Crews on a fire engine will follow and respond as close as they can to the incident.
The mountain bikes are designed to be attached to the back of a fire engine and dismounted to allow crews to respond in a similar fashion with the same equipment.
“It isn’t our intention to haul them out on a motorcycle, but to get to them and help them,” Boykin said. “We can then plot a point to get help in there.”
The department will have 16 firefighters trained to use the dirt bike, each with the appropriate endorsements on their driver’s licenses.
“I think they are going to be a plus to our response,” Boykin said. “McLeansville has an ATV team, Greensboro has a Gator (utility vehicle) team, and we figured the only part left out was bikes and a motorcycle.”
This is the second response prompted by the early January fatality.
The Summerfield Public Safety Committee announced last week that they are looking into placing signs with GPS coordinates on trails to assist callers dialing 911.