South Whitehall commissioners have approved the purchase of new vehicles for the volunteer fire company chiefs at a total cost of $265,195.

The amount includes payoff of the balance at Woodlawn Fire Company for the Chevrolet Tahoe purchased last year for use by Chief James Kutz.

At Cetronia Fire Company, a 2019 Chevrolet Tahoe will be obtained to replace the 2011 model in use now.

This will be driven by Chief Jay Heicklen.

A 2019 Chevrolet Tahoe will replace the existing 2012 model used by Chief Andrew Garger at Greenawalds Fire Company.

In addition, for the Greenawalds station, a 2019 utility vehicle will be bought to replace the 2004 model now in use.

At a recent commissioners’ meeting, Garger reported the current vehicles will be used by other staff.

The purchase plan resulted from several months of collaboration among the chiefs and South Whitehall representatives.

Fire chiefs take the vehicles home to be ready to deploy quickly to emergency calls.

Vehicles carry radios, tools and first aid equipment and serve as a command post when a chief arrives on the scene.

Each vehicle is used for supervision and incident command capabilities for all alarms to which the fire departments are dispatched.

Communication devices on the Tahoes enable the supervising chief to direct actions at the emergency setting.

Vehicles also include EMS tools and equipment for medical responses.

The utility vehicle has the primary function of responding to EMS calls. It houses equipment for responses to mass casualty and active shooter incidents and can transport personnel and supplies needed to support ongoing emergency incidents.

Replacement of older units was given high priority as the vehicles serve as front line command and see a great amount of use when they respond to nearly every dispatched call.