Edmonson County’s new rescue truck boosts response capabilities

EDMONSON COUNTY, Ky. (WNKY) — A new extrication response vehicle is giving Kyrock Fire and Rescue more room for both emergency responders and rescue equipment as crews respond to crashes and other entrapment calls throughout Edmonson County.

The new 2026 Ford F-550 replaces a 2008 Ford F-250 that had been operated by the department since 2013. Firefighter-paramedic Ashley Ritter said the aging truck had become overloaded and increasingly difficult to drive safely while responding to emergencies.

More responders arriving together

One of the biggest changes is how many firefighters can travel in the vehicle.

The previous truck could carry only two people, forcing other responders to arrive in personal vehicles. Ritter said that meant more vehicles at emergency scenes and less room for crews to work.

The new truck can carry as many as five responders.

“There’s more people that can come at one time,” Ritter said. “So especially in the event that it’s a multi-victim extrication that’s needed. We can have multiple teams running simultaneously at the same time because of the number of personnel that we can take with us.”

Ritter said having a larger crew arrive together allows responders to take on several jobs at once and work more efficiently during an extrication.

Safety was another concern

The previous Ford F-250 was already five years old when the department began using it.

“It was starting to be overloaded to the point that it was unsafe to drive,” Ritter said. “And we would walk all over the road whenever we were trying to drive it.”

Ritter said the new vehicle gives crews greater confidence while traveling to emergency scenes.

“Definitely just the ability to drive safely when we’re responding to accidents is the advantage,” she said.

More rescue equipment on board

The larger truck also gives firefighters significantly more space for stabilization equipment, commonly called cribbing.

Ritter said crews previously carried only a small amount on the old truck. Additional equipment had to be hauled to a crash scene in a trailer pulled by another department vehicle.

The new truck can carry three times as much cribbing and stabilization equipment.

“So if we were to go to an incident involving a large piece of farm machinery or a tractor-trailer or something like that, that requires a lot more stabilization of that vehicle, we have all of that equipment with us now,” Ritter said.

Responding across Edmonson County

Ritter said the truck responds to any location in Edmonson County when an accident involving entrapment is reported.

Once crews arrive, they work alongside EMS and other responding departments to determine where someone is trapped, the severity of the person’s injuries and how quickly extrication needs to happen.

“Then we all work together to safely extricate them in the most efficient way,” Ritter said.

The vehicle was purchased by the Edmonson County Fiscal Court for Kyrock Fire and Rescue to operate. Ritter credited magistrates Mickey Johnson, T.J. Massey and Mark Meeks, along with the rest of the fiscal court, for helping secure the new equipment.