Above: Engines on the Eldorado National Forest in California were loaded on semi trucks November 26 to be hauled to North Carolina to fight fires. USFS photo.
Often when large fire engines operated by the Federal agencies are dispatched to fires in distant locations they are transported on lowboy trailers pulled by semi trucks. These fire trucks, some weighing more than 30,000 pounds, are not really made for multi-day trips carrying up to five people. And, the additional wear and tear of putting thousands of miles on a resource that costs *$220,000 to $255,000 can make the decision to put it on a lowboy an easy one.
*Costs updated Dec. 3, 2016 for standard and all wheel drive Type 3 USFS engines.
Operation Knee-Jerk. Didn’t anyone see this coming when the fall rains didn’t occur, fuel moistures low and plenty of available vegetation? Hello out there. Or was the local fire districts not opening up their “house” for a bunch of foreigners (out of state) fire fighters to invade their turf? Texas is a good example of fire pride. Or was the Park Service just being the Park Service? As for military reserve air units hauling fire trucks (R 5 to R 3 ) and 2000 gallon rigid fire buckets (Hawaii) it has occurred and seem to work well. Is Continental Trailways Bus Company still in business. Alternate to Greyhound.
With the upmost of respect to all those caught by these disasters. Thought and Prayers.
Often wonder why AF reserve (or NG) units are not used to transport engines and crews for long trips like this. Both organizations do training flights and this might work for both federal fire crews and air guard or reserve units. Just a thought.
You all are heroes in my book fighting fires where they erupt. Your coverage of the Tennessee fires were riveting- my heart broke to watch them.
What about the 26 people and the strike team leader truck? What’s the logistics plan and resulting costs for them? I doubt they’re handed a Greyhound bus ticket.
Now let’s think about doing this with Hotshot buggies on multi-day trips to and from a fire.
Been there, done that (with buggies)