A new emergency response vehicle, or ERV, will help Red Cross officials in northeast Iowa better respond to disasters. The Waterloo-based Hawkeye Chapter was recently selected by the agency’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C., to receive the new vehicle.
Chapter executive director Alan McKean says the ERV has just arrived. He calls it a 60-thousand dollar state-of-the art ERV. McKean says the new vehicle will enable the local Red Cross to expand its services when it responds to disasters. He says it’s more user-friendly and replaces one that was 15-years old with new equipment and features that will be a big help, especially in responding to fires.
The new ERV has additional storage space and is designed so disaster volunteers can more easily load and unload necessary supplies. There are four other Red Cross emergency response vehicles in Iowa, but McKean says the Hawkeye Chapter was the only one in the state selected for a new one. The other ERVs are in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, the Quad Cities and Sioux City.