BETHEL – Selectmen at Monday night’s meeting shot down a proposal to expand the town’s two-cruiser police fleet, but gave firefighters the nod to pursue a six wheel-drive back-country utility vehicle.
Expanding the fleet would have meant keeping a 2003 Ford with 253,000 miles, a 1999 Ford with 145,200 miles, and a 2006 Ford, which was delivered late last month, Town Manager Scott Cole said on Tuesday afternoon.
“With 253,000-plus miles on it, a 2003 Ford is not the ideal candidate for retention in the police fleet,” Cole stated in a Saturday memo to selectmen.
At Monday’s meeting, he said there was a lot of discussion about expanding the fleet, but the board chose to sell the high-mileage car by secret bids.
Before the 2006 cruiser can be used, however, it needs some work.
Cole said that at 1 a.m. Monday, Sgt. S. R. White collided with a deer, which damaged the grill area.
Then, at 6:30 a.m., the 1999 cruiser was involved in a minor accident while an officer was heading to a call. It was was clipped by another car, Cole added.
In other business, selectmen authorized Fire Department Assistant Chief Michael Jodrey’s application for a free Polaris Ranger 6-by-6 that seats three people and has a 1,250-pound cargo capacity.
Cole said the vehicle is available through the national utility vehicle donation program of U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. of Greenwich, Conn. Vehicles are awarded through a competitive application process.
Jodrey stated on the application form that Bethel firefighters would use the six-wheeler for search-and-rescue operations for hunters, hikers, snowmobilers, all-terrain vehicle wrecks and forest fires.
“Currently, we are the only department in our area to have any ATV rescue capability or ATV fire suppression program in place,” Jodrey wrote. He said the Polaris “would be a huge asset to us” and the surrounding communities.
“Getting two or more rescue personnel to an emergency scene swiftly, safely, and with needed equipment could be the difference in someone’s life, and, or, quality of life. The nearest hospitals are 20-plus miles in any direction, so time and efficiency are critical,” Jodrey wrote.
The department owns a 1996 Yamaha Grizzly 600 ATV, which is used for rescue work, but it can only carry one person and very little equipment.
He said the Ranger “would have made a huge difference” in getting the large group of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School students out safer and faster from the White Mountain National Forest after an unexpected snowstorm stranded them in December 2003.
In addition to Bethel’s 68 square miles, the department’s coverage area includes Albany and Mason townships, mutual aid with Andover, Gilead, Greenwood, Newry, Rumford, Woodstock, and Grafton Notch State Park in Grafton Township, and some White Mountain National Forest terrain.
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