He said they were concerned about the McIntosh Run trail in Spryfield.
The established trail is growing in the mountain bike scene, with rugged terrain with a lot of granite, twists and turns.
Mancini said the biking group were concerned about first responders’ ability to get into the trail to help injured cyclists, or any other users.
He said there are other Halifax Fire & Emergency stations with similar equipment, but they’re further from the trail, and use an earlier model with only a mountain bike tire.
“This one has a much larger tire on it, it’s almost like a tractor tire, a small tractor tire,” he said. “It’ll handle the terrain much better.”
Mancini said before this piece of equipment anyone hurt on the trail would have to be carried out, which has a whole host of possible complications.
— Jack Morse (@bjackmorse) October 6, 2021
Deputy Chief Dave Meldrum said they needed better tools, and this will let them get a stretcher into, and out of, hard to reach places more safely and quickly.
“This particular wheel, it’s very rugged… it’s almost a foot wide, that’s going to ride over roots and rocks,” he said. “It’s going to give the firefighter’s the mobility to move people around and do that in a way that’s safe for the patient, and safe for them as well.”
Mancini and Patty Cuttell, District 11 Councillor, split the $2500 price tag from their discretionary budgets.
