In what may be just a matter of months, Boulder will become the first city in the nation to have two operating electric fire engines, according to the city’s claim.

Over the past two years, the city has worked with Rosenbauer, an Austrian company that specializes in electric vehicles, to design the apparatuses that would fit their needs and sustainability goals.

For Boulder Fire-Rescue, environmental sustainability and the safety of firefighters was at the forefront of the decision to switch to electric.

When Boulder Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Travis Richen began the search for a new fire apparatus, he knew it was the perfect opportunity to carry out a part of the city’s sustainability goals.

Boulder aims to reduce emissions by 70% by 2023, be a net-zero carbon emissions city by 2025 and be carbon positive by 2040, according to the city of Boulder webpage.The vehicles, which will be housed at Station 1 and Station 3 and cost about $1.8 million each, are all terrain and have a 100% electric drivetrain, meaning batteries power the axles and water pump. According to Boulder Fire-Rescue, if the battery level reaches below 20%, a diesel engine auxiliary power backup system will automatically activate and charge the batteries.

Richen said preliminary data showed that 99.7% of the time, the apparatuses are 100% electric.

“We’re using that diesel generator almost never,” Richen said.

According to Boulder Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Jamie Barker, the batteries also charge themselves while the engine is in motion. Barker said how quickly the batteries charge depends on how much the battery has been depleted and which charging method it’s using, but typically it takes between 30 minutes and two hours to fully charge. In addition to self-charging, the battery can be charged by being plugged into a port in the bay, Barker said.

If the engine leaves the port not fully charged, Barker said it’s OK as it’ll charge in motion and also has the backup diesel generator.

Richen said the electric vehicles will also provide a more pleasant experience for patients and those on emergency scenes. The lights are more ambient and the apparatus is very quiet, causing less disruption to locals when crews are called to respond at night.

“The experience the patient gets is quieter — the light isn’t as intense,” Richen said. “The patient experience and the on-scene experience for all the people who interact with this apparatus is a little bit better.”

Along with the apparatus not emitting chemicals into the air on scenes, it also will not emit flumes into the station bay, making the bay safer for firefighters.

“It’s cleaner for our citizens — it’s cleaner for our stations,” Richen said. “We pull the engine into the bay, or the big garage, we turn it off, we go to a call, we turn it back on. With a diesel pumper, every time you turn the diesel on and off, it’s pushing that exhaust into that apparatus bay, which inevitably coats everything and it gets on all of our equipment, some of it gets sucked into the station.”

‘We’re setting an example for a carbon-neutral option’

The two engines are a part of a larger shift by the city to purchase greener alternatives for its fleets. When asked whether there was a goal for a fully electric fleet for Boulder Fire-Rescue, Barker said the department is working with the purview of the city and the goals of the city, including their climate goals, but the primary focus is the safety of the community.

Barker said the department will be tracking and reviewing the performance of the engines into the future to see how they measure up to the diesel engines.

“We’re setting an example for a carbon-neutral option in heavy machinery in the fire service, and we’re supporting our end user, whether it’s the medical patient (or) the family whose fire we just put out, and it’s serving our firefighters as well,” Richen said.

A key part of the safety design was raising the height of the tools firefighters use frequently. Richen compared firefighters to paperclips, saying if you bend it 10 times, it will crack, but if you bend it 100 times, it will snap.

“What Rosenbauer was trying to do is if these firefighters are these paperclips and we’re constantly getting big, heavy pieces of equipment out of a cabinet — think like, your kitchen. You’ve got a really, really heavy piece of equipment you put in the bottom cabinet. You’re kind of bending down and twisting and lifting this thing out of the cabinet. What Rosenbauer was trying to do was bring everything up to the height of a firefighter and be able to mount equipment so when you go to access it, essentially the engine comes to you,” Richen said.

In addition to tools being more easily accessible, the pump panel, where firefighters control where and when water is pumped from, is fully digital on the Rosenbauer RTX apparatus, making for a more localized panel.

‘These engines are built to be ergonomic’

When Richen was tasked with picking a new apparatus, he carefully picked a diverse group of five other people that would help design the vehicle to fit their needs. Richen said he considered years of experience, demographic diversity and individual expertise.

Hannah Grady is a Station 3 engineer who was picked as a firefighter at the start of the RTX design process. Standing at 5-foot-4-inches, she is one of the shortest at the department. Grady said her height assisted the design team when it came to making the apparatus accessible.

“I got selected as a firefighter and then also on the shorter side of things because these engines are built to be ergonomic. That was a big part of it, was to have somebody of my height be able to be like, ‘Yeah, this is way too high for people or this is too short.’

She continued: “My priorities were, especially being on the shorter end of things, how it would pull off the pre-connects, where the tray should sit, the tools. Everything has a place — with our other engines, it’s a lot easier to move things around if they’re not working. This engine is very specific on how it uses its space, so I wanted to make sure that nothing we use on an everyday basis would be up top where you have to use a ladder.”

The RTX is all terrain and is able to raise and lower within a 13-inch range between operation, driving, off-road and wading in water modes. In addition, the apparatus is able to pump and drive, which is beneficial in wildland fires where the flames are spread over a larger area than a typical structure fire.

As the engineer, Grady said the apparatus is easier to drive.

“The biggest difference I would say is probably the way it drives,” Grady said. “With the four wheel steer …the maneuverability is just a lot easier. It’s a tad shorter, it’s a lot skinnier than our other rig, so driving around the city is a lot better.”

Grady said she’s most grateful for the cab set up and said it’s easy to get in and out of the apparatus. The cab has six seats and stairs in the rear, making it easy to enter and exit.

“It was definitely an honor. Definitely exciting, a big step in my career. Great to be a part of something so innovative, like this RTX, but also to be a part of building a vehicle, whether it’s diesel or electric. Being on the committee was great. I learned a lot from both the engineer and lieutenant and chief that was on the committee,” Grady said.

‘This isn’t just leading the county of Boulder; this is bigger than the state’

In addition to thanking the city of Boulder and those involved in making the RTX happen, Richen thanked his design and build team as well.

“It would not have succeeded had it not been for my build and design team,” Richen said, adding: “They stepped into a leadership position in the fire service that isn’t just a regional thing. This isn’t just leading the county of Boulder — this is bigger than the state.”

He added: “This project on a national level is important and their input, their expertise that they brought to the table, who they are — all of that is why this project was a success.”