A bridge collapse last month during a devastating brush fire took the lives of two firefighters and destroyed one of tiny Olney Springs’ three firetrucks.
But since the tragedy, four men have joined the volunteer fire department in the southeastern Colorado town of 300, nearly doubling the size of the unit.
And Fred McKnight, a volunteer firefighter from Ouray County, coaxed a California fire department into donating a fire tanker to Olney Springs, which has a fire budget of only about $4,000 a year.
“This guy is a real smart cookie,” Olney Springs Fire Chief Russell Bennett said.
Bennett replaced Fire Chief Terry DeVore, 30, after DeVore and firefighter John Schwartz, 38, were killed April 15 when the firetruck they were in plunged 15 feet into a wall of flames after a bridge collapsed.
Bennett said he called McKnight because he heard the retired Los Angeles police officer had a gift for persuading California fire departments to donate older engines to small, cash-strapped Colorado fire departments.
“He beat the bushes and found a truck for us in about a half-hour,” Bennett said.
McKnight said he discovered that the San Bernardino County Fire Department was going to auction one of its older trucks and called someone he knew from the department.
“I told him the whole story,” Mc Knight. “He said, ‘It’s yours.’ ”
The California department donated a 1960s-era military fire tanker built to carry 1,500 gallons of water virtually anywhere, McKnight said.
The only challenge was getting the tanker to Colorado. McKnight took it upon himself to seek donations by passing around a boot at an event for his volunteer fire department in Ridgway. The firefighters, Colorado Fire Chiefs Association and other donors came up with $2,200.
The firetruck was transported in a semi-tractor trailer Wednesday to Pueblo, from where Bennett will drive it to Olney Springs.
The volunteer department will use the truck to fight fires over a 150-square-mile area, he said.
“Whatever we get is an improvement over having nothing,” he said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
