Beatrice Fire and Rescue report given to Mayor, City Council

BEATRICE – Beatrice Fire and Rescue Chief Brian Daake says it’s possible an ambulance unit badly damaged in an accident in Lincoln recently, could be back in service by the end of this year.

"I hate that this happens, but it does happen.....hopefully in the future we can avoid these things."

Daake told city officials that although the front of the truck was totaled when another driver ran through an intersection…..the box of the vehicle may still be usable. The crew operating the ambulance was transporting a patient from east of Beatrice to a hospital in Lincoln. Two members of the four-member ambulance crew were taken to a Lincoln hospital, treated for injuries and released.

Daake was the lead-off department head in a series of presentations that will be made regularly to the new mayor and city council, to familiarize themselves with city operations.

Daake thanked citizens for passage of a half-cent sales tax that funded the new Beatrice Fire and Rescue Headquarters. That tax has collected about $113,000 a month….ahead of the projected $90,000 a month. It could mean that the city will retire bonds financing the station in about seven years, rather than ten.
Challenges for the department, Daake says, include an aging population, which increases the number of EMS calls…along with filling staff positions.
"In talking with other fire departments, they are seeing decreases in applications. Some have actually lowered their standards to try to get more numbers to apply. Of course, we have the supply chain issue."

Daake said self-contained breathing apparatus units delivery has been held up. If the department ordered a new ambulance today, it might be November of '25 when it would receive it. Orders for new fire trucks are anywhere from 36 to 48 months out, on purchasing.

This past year, the Beatrice fire and Rescue recorded 3,097 calls for service. Of the total, about 88-percent are EMS calls, with the remaining 12-percent, response to fires. The department averages 8 to 9 calls per day.

Beatrice Fire and Rescue dates back to 1910…when the first fire unit was pulled by horses. Today, there are three seven-member shifts, modern equipment, 16 paramedics, two advanced EMTs and seven EMTs.