BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – The Brown – Outagamie County Bomb Squad has a new toy which they say could be a lifesaver in a worst-case scenario.
Lieutenant Chris Knurr was behind the controls on Wednesday leading training for the department on their new robot which they received earlier this month.
“We got the funding off a homeland security grant,” he explains. “It was about $118,000.”
In fact, it’s an addition that the department has been eyeing for around fifteen years.
That’s because during that time they’ve only had one robot at their disposal, which is abnormal for a county bomb squad when comparing to the current state landscape.
He says the big draw to the new robot is its light, maneuverable attributes.
“This new robot is able to go up and down stairs a lot easier, get in tighter spaces, down the aisles of buses and airplanes,” says Lieutenant Knurr. “It’s more maneuverable in tight spaces.”
For comparison, the new robot weighs around 140 pounds, which allows one single department member to pick it up or for two members to tag team the effort and transport it with ease.
The older robot, which is now sixteen-years-old, weighs in excess of 500 pounds, making it much more difficult to lug around.
The new addition cruises around at a speed of five miles-per-hour, but can be cranked up to a higher speed of seven miles-per-hour if needed.
The department says the new capabilities are great and the training process has been enjoyable, but the main thing they’re pleased with is now having two robots at their disposal.
A prime example for when this would be handy would be this coming weekend, when a rather important visitor is set to come into the area.
“For the presidential detail coming up, we’ll be able to throw the smaller robot in the van and have it accessible,” he explains.
Specifically, the smaller robot will be around the airport on Saturday and the larger, older model can hang around the Resch Center.
President Trump is set to have a rally at the Resch Center this coming Saturday, which will get underway starting at 7 p.m.
Lieutenant Knurr says they’ve enjoyed training with the new robot so much that they’ve already decided to bestow a nickname to it.
“We named it Toque,” he says. “The rep that came from Canada brought some hats and they call them toques in Canada.”
Even though it took much longer than the department would have wished to get the funds necessary to bring in Toque, they say it was worth the wait to now have peace of mind going forward.
“You can’t even put a price on the safety that this brings us now,” he says.
