Fresno Yosemite International Airport gets improved emergency vehicle

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Fresno Yosemite International Airport has a shiny new toy for airport emergency response. It's part fire engine, part tank, and now thanks to a $700,000 federal grant, it belongs to the airport.

"This is very important for Fresno to have this," Fresno Fire Captain Jonathan Lusk said. "I think I heard we have about 2,000 people who fly out of the terminals a day."

All commercial airports are federally required to have some version of an aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle. The new crash fire truck is considered the best money can buy because it takes only one man to operate the large and expensive piece of equipment. It makes it worth it for Fresno Yosemite International.

In the case of an emergency, the vehicle is capable of rushing to any crash site in or around the airport and releasing more than 2,000 gallons of water a minute with pinpoint accuracy.

It's not just what lands here in Fresno, it's what has the potential to land here in Fresno as well. There's a lot of planes that fly over the California airspace that don't necessarily land in Fresno but if they had an in-flight emergency would most likely be looking to land in Fresno for safety.

The vehicle replaces an older model that helped when a single-engine plane crash landed earlier this week at FYI. However, that vehicle is more suited for commercial aircraft. When a plane does crash, the important thing is getting the people off the airlines as fast as possible with smoke and fire.

It's a scenario the airport hopes never happens but if it does it'll be well equipped for it.