Firefighters in Charlottesville, Virginia will be rushing off to fires, running their fire engines on biodiesel.

This story from WCAV-TV quotes Charlottesville Fire Chief, Charles Werner as pointing out the benefits of the green fuel:

[T]he fire department is changing [its] larger vehicles to run on biodiesel 20. Which means that 20% of the diesel is now an alternative fuel. “The unique thing about that is it reduces the amount of overall diesel fuel we’re using and it makes a cleaner burning type fuel as well.” The fire department hopes to have all of there larger vehicles burning the biodiesel fuel within 6 months. Fire chief werner also plans to add additional hybrid vehicles the fleet, in applicable positions like fire inspector.

“I think its been an interesting challenge but it’s well worth the effort”

The department has also added a Ford Escape Hybrid to its fleet to make the department that much greener.