Four-axle former military HEMTT vehicle used as fire truck

HEMTT fire truck front nozzle

Image above: Pickett Volunteer Fire Department’s HEMTT fire truck. KXII photo.

KXII has a story about a wildfire in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma where the Pickett Volunteer Fire Department used their huge 2,500-gallon wildland fire truck to help extinguish a fire near Ada (map). The vehicle is based on the military’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), an eight-wheel drive beast manufactured by Oshkosh Truck Corporation. Many variations of the HEMTT were made and are still being used by military organizations around the world to carry cargo, Patriot Missiles, rockets, and portable bridges. There are also several varieties of fire trucks based on the HEMTT that hold from 1,000 to 2,500 gallons. 

Wikipedia had this information about one of the firefighting versions:

The M1142 is a Tactical Fire Fighting Truck (TFFT) capable of extinguishing aircraft, petroleum, brush, and structural fires at isolated military installations. The TFFT is based on a HEMTT M977A2 chassis with the heavier duty M1120 LHS HEMTT variant rear suspension. The TFFT contract was awarded to Pierce Manufacturing with Oshkosh Corporation as a subcontractor to Pierce.

HEMTT fire truck
Pickett Volunteer Fire Department’s HEMTT fire truck. KXII photo.

KXII wrote:

It cost the town only $30,000 through a government program that gives counties retired military equipment.

A vehicle like that would normally cost tax payers about $500,000.

Let us know in a comment if you know of other fire departments using a version of the HEMTT as a fire truck.

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(UPDATE February 14, 2016)

One of our readers told us about a Maine Forest Service fire station in Greenville that has at least one HEMTT.

Maine FS HEMTT
From Maine Firehouse Photos.
Maine FS HEMTT
From Google Maps Street View.

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(UPDATE February 16, 2016)

Pat sent us these photos of HEMTTs that are in Idaho.

ID Dept Lands HEMTT
Idaho Department of Lands HEMTT fire truck.
Bonneville CoFD HEMTT
Bonneville County Fire District’s HEMTT fire truck.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

13 thoughts on “Four-axle former military HEMTT vehicle used as fire truck”

  1. This is awesome. The HEMTT is my all time favorite land vehicle. It is just a massive beast. With the ability to turn this vehicle into virtually anything you could need it for it is great to see it make it to the fire world.

    What’s not funny is one of theseveral aperatus starts it’s life at the cheap end of $500,000 and makes it outside of the military between $5,000 and $30,000. Quite a lot for a modular vehicle.

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  2. Montana DNRC acquired a HEMTT the equipment development center built and is stationed in eastern Montana, in Rosebud County. It’s built off the M977 platform with an engineered 3500 gallon fiberglass tank.

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  3. Idaho Department of Lands has one HEMTT in service in eastern Idaho and has acquired a dozen more through the DoD Fire Fighter Program for rural departments in Idaho – one of which is in service in Bonneville County, the rest are still under conversion by the rural departments.

    The trucks Idaho has acquired, and the one in this story, are not the fire truck version of the HEMTT, they are the M978 fuel tanker version converted to fire use. They are pretty amazing trucks. They are designed to climb a 60% slope and traverse a 30% side slope, assuming traction is adequate, and run down the highway at 65 mph.

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  4. There are a number of these in Kansas and Nebraska. Excellent off-road capabilities, and a huge water capacity, can make a serious fire-eating machine.

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  5. Here in Northwestern Nebraska we have several of these unit in service.
    Rushville has one Heart-of-the-Hills have two Harrison as one.
    I think there are over 20 Hemitt through out the state.

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    1. Arthur County has one just used a tanker to fill other trucks. Don’t think it is equipped to extinguish though.

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  6. North Tree Fire out of California has at least one, and Fort Hunter-Liggett has several, as they have fires on a regular basis because of their live-fire training.

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