While Colorado firefighters and emergency medical services personnel often face tremendous obstacles and circumstances, the pledge we make as first responders is that we will always give our greatest effort, no matter the challenge.

And because I serve on the Executive Board of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, I know that first responders across the country feel the same way. That is why I am concerned with proposals in Washington, D.C., that would threaten public safety.

I am referring to the handful of shipping companies that want to increase the weight and length of tractor-trailers nationwide. While we already have some of these bigger trucks operating in Colorado, the proposals under consideration in Congress could mean that kind of heavy-truck traffic increases tenfold, weaving through our towns and communities.

Consider all of the trucks carrying produce east from California or the rigs hauling big-box store freight on U.S. Highway 160 – those typically weigh 80,000 pounds, the standard for tractor-trailers. Now consider those trucks weighing 91,000 pounds each, a 5.5 ton increase.

I can tell you that means trouble for our motorists.

As chief of the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, my team responded to a tragic scene last year that will remain in my mind for years to come: A truck collided head-on with a passenger vehicle on U.S. Highway 160, unfortunately leading to the death of one person and two others being hospitalized. It was the largest crash scene our department responded to all year, and it required the highway to be closed for seven hours and traffic to be diverted to Colorado State Highway 151. In addition, heavy equipment had to be brought to the scene to disassemble the truck to fully extinguish a fire.

Whenever you respond to a scene so catastrophic, you hope for your community that it is the last one. Making trucks heavier will not advance that goal.

As first responders, we know from experience that the more trucks weigh, the more likely they are to have brake problems that lead to more collisions, and more severe crashes. And research backs up our professional experience.

A recently published report from the U.S. Department of Transportation found in state testing that heavier trucks experience significantly higher crash rates.

The report also determined that these trucks have higher out-of-service brake violation rates. Another study last year by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concluded that a truck with any brake violation was over three times more likely to be involved in a collision.

And if these highway safety concerns aren’t enough, consider the impacts heavier tractor-trailers have on our infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Transportation determined in a report last year that allowing truck weights to increase to 91,000 pounds would result in up to $1.1 billion in additional bridge costs; raising limits to 97,000 pounds would double those costs. Considering over half of all bridges statewide are in fair or poor condition, according to the Federal Highway Administration, raising truck weights is a step in the wrong direction for our infrastructure.

While new legislation has yet to be introduced, two new groups, Americans for Modern Transportation and the Safer Hauling and Infrastructure Protection Coalition, were formed this year to advocate for longer and heavier trucks. They are actively lobbying members of Congress.

The last time these proposals were addressed by Congress was in 2015, with the House defeating a measure that would have allowed heavier trucks, while the Senate shot down a measure to allow longer trucks. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver) opposed the proposal, and Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) did not cast a vote. Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) joined several others in the congressional delegation in supporting heavier trucks.

I have dedicated the past 30 years of my life to protecting the public and responding to emergencies. But this proposal is the antithesis of protecting the public.

We need members of Congress to know that increasing the number of heavier trucks on our highways does not align with our way of life. Contact our congressional delegation and tell them to put a stop to this proposal.

Bruce Evans is fire chief of the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District and a leader of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. Reach him at bevans@upperpinefpd.org or 884-9508.