The frigid conditions outside this morning were similar to those on an early-February morning last year when an old granary building in Monticello caught fire. Two employees were hurt in that Feb. 6, 2007, blaze and 10 fire departments were called to the scene.
But the Green County government's mobile command unit was not able to answer the call. Because it was being kept outside at the Pleasant View Complex, its engine wasn't able to be started in the sub-zero temperatures.
There was no good excuse for the unit being stored outdoors, or being unavailable for use during a large fire. Apparently, and thankfully, Green County government has remedied the problem.
As was reported in a story in Monday's edition of The Monroe Times, the mobile command unit was brought in from the cold last year. It now is stored in an unheated shed and is plugged in to keep the batteries fresh.
That's not the greatest solution, obviously, but it's far better than leaving an expensive piece of equipment outdoors in the elements.
The mobile command unit is a 26-foot-long 1997 Chevrolet recreational vehicle that contains computerized equipment that provides on-scene dispatching capabilities. In the case of the granary fire, it would have been used to coordinate the efforts of the 10 fire departments, as well as the two police departments and Green County Sheriff's Department, which also were at the scene. The unit was purchased in 2003 with a federal grant of $30,000 in Homeland Security funds.
Public attention drawn to the mobile command unit's failure to start led county government to move the vehicle inside. It shouldn't have taken such an incident and public scrutiny to make that happen. Just as cold temperatures can't be good on the engine, they also can't be good for the computer equipment on board. Leaving the vehicle outdoors also makes it accessible to vandals. That's certainly no way to treat a $30,000 vehicle.
But county government at least should be commended for finding a solution to the problem between winters. Since then, the unit has been used at fires and at a murder scene, according to Green County Emergency Management Director Keith Ingwell.
In this case, better late than never.
But the Green County government's mobile command unit was not able to answer the call. Because it was being kept outside at the Pleasant View Complex, its engine wasn't able to be started in the sub-zero temperatures.
There was no good excuse for the unit being stored outdoors, or being unavailable for use during a large fire. Apparently, and thankfully, Green County government has remedied the problem.
As was reported in a story in Monday's edition of The Monroe Times, the mobile command unit was brought in from the cold last year. It now is stored in an unheated shed and is plugged in to keep the batteries fresh.
That's not the greatest solution, obviously, but it's far better than leaving an expensive piece of equipment outdoors in the elements.
The mobile command unit is a 26-foot-long 1997 Chevrolet recreational vehicle that contains computerized equipment that provides on-scene dispatching capabilities. In the case of the granary fire, it would have been used to coordinate the efforts of the 10 fire departments, as well as the two police departments and Green County Sheriff's Department, which also were at the scene. The unit was purchased in 2003 with a federal grant of $30,000 in Homeland Security funds.
Public attention drawn to the mobile command unit's failure to start led county government to move the vehicle inside. It shouldn't have taken such an incident and public scrutiny to make that happen. Just as cold temperatures can't be good on the engine, they also can't be good for the computer equipment on board. Leaving the vehicle outdoors also makes it accessible to vandals. That's certainly no way to treat a $30,000 vehicle.
But county government at least should be commended for finding a solution to the problem between winters. Since then, the unit has been used at fires and at a murder scene, according to Green County Emergency Management Director Keith Ingwell.
In this case, better late than never.
