Reprinted from: http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/204623 for archive purposes.

8-wheel ATV giving firefighters more access
Elliston firefighters say the Argo 8x8 Avenger has been worth the $20,000 investment.

By Shawna Morrison
381-1665
ELLISTON -- The first time members of the Elliston Volunteer Fire Department used a six-wheeled, amphibious all-terrain vehicle, they knew it was going to change their jobs forever.

A man had been injured in a logging accident near the top of Fort Lewis Mountain, Chief Pug Wells said. The terrain was rough, and firefighters would have to hike a long way up the mountain to reach him.

Using the six-wheeled Argo, with its low-to-the-ground body that is difficult to flip, they were able to ride straight up to the scene. The Argo's speed helped them reach the man -- and get him to an ambulance -- quickly.

"We thought, if a six-wheeler can do this, think of what an eight-wheeler can do," Assistant Chief Clyde Hodges said.

The department promptly sold its six-wheeled Argo and bought an eight-wheeled version a year ago.

"The more we've used it, the more we've realized how much we needed it," Hodges said. "It's probably one of the best investments we've made in a long time."

The Argo 8x8 Avenger cost about $20,000, fully equipped, Hodges said. The department used donations it had saved to buy the used vehicle from an ATV dealer in North Carolina.

"One time using it, it was worth the investment," Wells said.

The Argo arrived at 4 p.m. one day last spring, Wells said. About 5:30 p.m., the fire department got a call that someone had fallen and gotten hurt at Stiles Falls, the waterfall at Camp Alta Mons in Shawsville.

The ATV has also been used to reach a deer hunter who fell off a tree stand in some thick Montgomery County woods, to search for a 2-year-old who went missing in a wooded area of Blacksburg and to haul fuel, saws, rakes, blowers and food up Fishers View Mountain and Poor Mountain for firefighters on the scenes of brush fires.

Some firefighters, Hodges said, rode the Argo 1.3 miles up Fishers View to reach the fire, enabling them to get there much quicker than they could have on foot.

"This has given us access that we've never had before," he said.

Where they would have had to walk around a slow, thick stream or a small section of river before, "now we just cross it," Hodges said. "It doesn't do well in swift water, but it's great in standing water.

"It will go through mud you can't walk through," he said.

The ATV runs on an eight-wheel chain drive with 25-inch rawhide tires. It can move at speeds up to 20 mph and tow up to 1,100 pounds.

On top, Hodges built a bracket to hold a Stokes basket for carrying patients.

Wells said the fire department's funds are depleted for now, but eventually he would like to have a 50-gallon water tank and pump installed on the Argo to help crews fight spot fires that are difficult to reach.

Wells said the department will loan the Argo out to other departments that need it as well. A couple of New River Valley fire departments, including Blacksburg, have six-wheeled ATVs, but Wells said he doesn't know of any others that have the eight-wheeled version.

The six-wheeled Argo can hold three people and has a 16-horsepower engine; the eight-wheeled Argo can hold six people and has a 26-horsepower engine, Wells said.

"I had never seen one until we got the first one," he said.

But Hodges had been watching them on TV hunting programs for a while, thinking about what they could do for the fire department.

"Compared to how it was before and how it is now," he said, "there's no comparison."