Polk Township Vol. Fire Dept.

Real Humm-dinger of a time

On Monday May 4th, 1998 the Polk Township Volunteer Fire Department got a long distance mutual aid request. Chief Bud Kerckhove received a telephone call from a Hummer representative. He needed some assistance. He had four fire chiefs that had traveled all the way from Norway and Iceland to see a demonstration of the new Hummer fire trucks.

Just like every other call, he was ready. Chief Kerckhove quickly setup a remote controlled burn site and spread the word. He invited other area departments to join in the demonstration.

The firefighters setup a live brush fire to put these new Hummer fire trucks to the test. It was a rousing hot time. As Chief Kerckhove said:

"We had a wonderful time. Everyone enjoyed the Hummer demonstrations. The camaraderie between our firefighters and the visiting Chiefs was great".

	The Hummers were quickly thrust into action. After starting the onboard pump, the above cab turret nozzle blasts a stream of water at the base of the brush pile. The driver sits comfortably in command inside the cab controlling the direction and pressure of the turret nozzle.
	A Polk Twp firefighter stands back and watches the power of the Hummer as it blasts a stream of water on the brush fire.
	As a souvenir of his visit, Dr. Stefan Hjartarson of Iceland snaps a group photo of the firefighters of the Polk Twp Volunteer Fire Department.
	The five Chiefs gathered for a group photo; from left to right, Guomundur Bergsson of Iceland, Sigmundur Eyporsson of Norway, Chief Bud Kerckhove, Dr. Stefan Hjartarson of Iceland and Thor Kristiansen of Norway.

All of the chiefs were very impressed with the Hummer's performance. So much so that several Hummers were ordered that day (too bad Polk Twp didn't get to place an order). The Hummer firetrucks range from $90,000 to $120,000.

Chief Kerckhove summed it all up:

"What an excellent opportunity. Everyone had fun and learned a great deal tonight."

Chief Kerckhove also let the visiting Chiefs take our trucks out for a test drive. When asked what they thought of his own firetrucks, Bud said:

"Their trucks are a lot smaller. They had so much fun maneuvering our new Freightliner Pumper/Tanker; Engine 4, that they didn't want to leave.

We would also like to thank Sharon Gardner; Staff Writer of the Plymouth Pilot News, for taking the time out of her busy schedule to cover this demonstration.

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7-2-98
John D. Einhorn