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Someone please explain this to me
I am not looking to criticize, but our Fire Department recently purchased the skid unit in these photos to use as our "new Brush Unit." The person who purchased it does not feel the need to explain his logic, however everyone is wondering what his logic was for ordering this unit from Northern Tool ( http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200329207_200329207) for use in Firefighting.
Obviously he has been around a lot longer than any of us, at least forty years longer to be exact, but does anyone else use a "Round-up Ready," 11gpm agricultural skid unit with a 1/2" hose and a plastic sprinkler sprayer for fighting brush fires. If you do, I would love to see your skid unit in action, so we know how to employ this thing.
And, yes, that is our 1977 Dodge Pick-up, whose last Red Light Permit expired in 2001, that we pulled out of retirement to be our Brush Unit.
This just seems like a bad idea to me.
Thanks,
Greenman
Obviously he has been around a lot longer than any of us, at least forty years longer to be exact, but does anyone else use a "Round-up Ready," 11gpm agricultural skid unit with a 1/2" hose and a plastic sprinkler sprayer for fighting brush fires. If you do, I would love to see your skid unit in action, so we know how to employ this thing.
And, yes, that is our 1977 Dodge Pick-up, whose last Red Light Permit expired in 2001, that we pulled out of retirement to be our Brush Unit.
This just seems like a bad idea to me.
Thanks,
Greenman
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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Greenman, I see you are in Georgia. I know fires don't always stay small and low intensity in Georgia(especially this year!). I can't explain it. I wouldn't feel comfortable fighting a wildland fire with flame lengths greater than 2 feet using this unit. It's not just an operations issue. It's also a safety issue.
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Permalink Reply by Patti Walz on
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Absolutely agree
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Permalink Reply by Andy Turnham on
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Alernativly, you could go into the Lawn Care business and earn some cash for a real rig!
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Permalink Reply by ashfire on
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Our county has this thing about weight on brush units. We had our own unit with a big brush breaker bumper and a 200 gal tank. years ago. Well the unit was a F250 and the county said it was over weight and we had to cut down the bumper to a grill guard and the tank to 120 to 150 gal. Now that we have had to use their purcahsed brush trucks we have to abid by their rules and what can be put on the unit. We are talking a standard K2500 to K3500 4x4 and what they mount on it. The hose reel has a garden nozzle on it because they say a regular fire nozzle uses up the water too quicky.
We had one wrecked on a call in a traffic accident and replaced with the one we have now. Now the new county fire chief (who was acting chief at the time) has come out after a major day of brush, mulch and building fires that brought fire units from all over the state and neigboring states to our county has said that we need more brush units with the means to go into areas and attack with military might. This might mean the end to skid loads on pickups. One dept had a surplus Army 6x6 years ago but got rid of it. We also need more tanker trucks with a couple that could double as foam trucks for the highways in the county.
One dept had a old brush unit that had been their baby for years. It had two wheel drive and 200 to 300 tank but it got stuck during all the fires that day and the crew had to abandon the truck for their safety. The fire burned the back of the truck with little damage to the front. They plan to rebuild it and keep it as a parade unit. They have a custom build F350 with skid unit to replace a Jeep that burned up on a call a couple of years ago.
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on
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I foresee a lot of details to water the median on the highway through the city.
Greenman
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I think our E-one engine with 200ft of red hardline will still be our workhorse for brush fires with this unit being essentially a rolling Indian Pack.
Greenman
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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The person who purchased it
Probably needs to be checked for Alzheimers. I've been around a long time too, but, Really?
Our type VI brush trucks at least have 125 gpm "fire" pumps with 200' of booster line plus another 200' of wildland hose. Small, maneuverable, and quick is a good thing, and trying to keep the weight down helps.
I suppose it might be good for mop up and stumps, but the wildfires I've deployed on lately, the fire laughed at type 1 engines and retardant aircraft. I can't imagine trying to do battle with a set up like that.
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Permalink Reply by Marc Hansen on
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Gotta agree with Ben for how it should have been done, and how to correct the problem going forward.
However one of the departments I was in had an old Willys Jeep with a transfer pump, 90 gallon tank, 1 garden hose (about 5 ft long- so the person not driving could use it on the fly) and carried about 200' of forestry hose. While I wouldn't use it at a wildland fire, most of the "brush" fires we faced were mulch burning at wally world or small yard fires started by inattentive burning of trash on windy days. This unit worked well for those fires as it was intended for. Maybe check with Chief Logic and see if this is what he meant as brush fires. Maybe all the money he could get was the 3k that this unit cost.
Just to present a different argument: A chief around here bought another dept very used snorkel truck for not much money. This was their first aerial piece and have now demonstrated a need for this type of piece. When it finally gets too expensive to repair/maintain he can argue with the city fathers that its needed and present facts and figures from his department and town to prove its worth. Is this the ideal way to go about it- no, does it work - we'll find out when its time to replace it with a new aerial. You have to admit its a decent way to try and add what you want/need with out trying to convince the bean counters to go out on a limb for a 500k or more truck (or 60k for a new pickup style brush unit)
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Permalink Reply by Kenneth Scamman on
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To be fair on this question, you all can plainly see both sides of the story!! This in fact can be used in brush fires............... for when the brush trucks and personnel vehicles are leaving the Fire Ground you can wash them to get all that black dust and stuff off windows and paint!!!:-) And you can even charge mutual aide towns $1.00 for each of that towns vehicles that go through, that could add up quick.
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