The Bureau of Land Management has purchased 32 wildland engines from Pierce Manufacturing of Appleton, Wisconsin. This month 19 engines will be delivered to BLM units in Idaho, Utah, Oregon, and Nevada, with the remaining 13 to be delivered in early 2011. Here is an excerpt from a Pierce press release.
“These vehicles would typically be used by our initial attack engine crews as Type 4 wildland engines, but, with this latest Pierce delivery, six of the units will feature a new auxiliary pump that is capable of generating 150-gpm at 250-psi.,” said Elden Alexander, National Fire Equipment Program manager for the Bureau of Land Management, whose responsibilities include oversight for all BLM wildland fire equipment design. “This makes them more versatile, Type 3 vehicles – and it represents a great deal of input from state fire program managers, field level equipment users and the fire equipment industry.”
The Pierce wildland all-wheel drive pumpers are built to BLM 667 and 667M specifications and are designed as initial attack engines that can reach fires in rough terrain before they threaten homes and lives. Each is built on a durable four-wheel drive chassis with maximum approach and departure angles and underbody clearance. Each features a 750 or 850-gallon water tank and a 20-gallon foam tank. The vehicles offer an auxiliary pump and foam system with true pump-and-roll capability to attack fast moving wildland fires.
Alan,
Many VFDs are eligible to participate in the Federal Excess Property Program.
Check out: http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/partners/fepp/
I would sure be nice if someone would be willing to donate one or two of those to a totally volunteer fire department that is in much need of safe and reliable equipment. Especially where we boarder BLM, National park land, and assist other departments in the same situation.
Alan – good idea, but these 32 BLM engines are paid for with US taxpayer $$ from all over the US and I’m sure that every other “totally volunteer fire department” in the US that borders Federal Lands would expect a similar deal. Maybe the local taxpayers who get the benefits of your Department could pay up?
I was not suggesting a brand new one, even though that would really be nice, but are there some old ones being traded out that may be available?