Sheriff’s vehicle donated to Lower Valley Fire District

PRESS RELEASE
May 3, 2021

Garfield County has donated a decommissioned 2012 Chevy Tahoe to the Lower Valley Fire District (LVFD) in Fruita for use as an emergency vehicle. The Tahoe, which has 139,000 miles and has been upfitted for use as a patrol vehicle by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, is slated to go into immediate use by the fire district, according to a letter from LVFD.

The Tahoe has a Kelly Blue Book average value of $13,124, which increases to roughly $28,000 when factoring in the upfitting, including wired lights, siren, radar, cage, backseat, brush guard, and a computer console.

“This is something we’ve wanted to do for Lower Valley Fire for a couple years for everything they do for us and they’re very short on decent vehicles,” said Chris Bornholdt, Garfield County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Operations Commander. “This is an agency that really helps us out a lot. They’ve gone above and beyond over the years to help us and cover the entire western end of Garfield County. The west end of Garfield County is not in their fire district and is something they do under a contract for very little money. I feel that this vehicle is something that’s going to pay back the county.”

He added that LVFD let the county use their station for meetings during the Pine Gulch Fire last summer at no charge.

“It is a benefit to us for them to respond on that side of the county,” Bornholdt said.

The vehicle donation was approved unanimously by the Board of County Commissioners, 3-0.

“LVFD Chief Frank Cavaliere and his crew have responded every time we’ve asked and have been great partners for many years,” said Commissioner John Martin. “This is a different approach to assisting an agency that really doesn’t charge us for response. Let’s keep the good relationship going as we do have another fire season coming and we’ll need as much assistance as possible. This is a good investment.”