The new firehouse in the MP Hill section of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, houses a 100-foot high-reach fire truck and has one-to-a-room sleeping quarters for firefighters, among other features. A ceremonial opening is set for May 18. (Franklin Fisher / S&S)
The new firehouse in the MP Hill section of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, houses a 100-foot high-reach fire truck and has one-to-a-room sleeping quarters for firefighters, among other features. A ceremonial opening is set for May 18. (Franklin Fisher / S&S)
A 100-foot platform fire truck is parked inside a firehouse newly built mainly for the firefighting vehicle, in the post’s MP Hill section. (Franklin Fisher / S&S)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — A new fire truck with firefighting apparatus that can reach the tops of the tallest buildings at Camp Humphreys now has its own new firehouse.
The one-story, $692,000 building houses the 100-foot platform truck U.S. Army Garrison-Humphreys acquired in October.
The building provides firefighters with individual sleeping quarters, a workout room, a break room, a kitchen, offices and storage space.
Construction finished last week, said Anthony J. Marra, the garrison’s chief of fire and emergency services.
The firehouse is operational now, but officials will hold a formal opening with a May 18 ribbon-cutting, Marra said.
The facility, across the street from the MP Hill gym, is one of three firehouses at Humphreys.
The individual quarters are part of the newer design of firehouses, Marra said.
"It helps them to hold down communicable diseases and also gives them some privacy," he said.
The "high-reach" fire truck is about 47 feet long and fitted with a folding crane-like tower that can be raised to 100 feet. The truck cost just under $1 million, Marra said.
Having the truck means garrison firefighters can reach the top of eight-story family apartment towers, currently the post’s tallest buildings.
"Our prior truck was only a 75-foot truck, and it could only reach up to the fifth floor, really," said Marra.
The truck’s tower is equipped with a bucket-like compartment with a nozzle that can train water on a fire.
Firefighters also can use the bucket to rescue people from a burning high-rise, Marra said.
Marra also is using the new station to house the garrison’s hazardous materials response truck, he said.
