Depending on your area, having both is a good idea. My dept. has both and you can bet it is alot nicer to drive back through the woods/field to get to the fire rather then drag 1000 yards of hose. Our brush carries 500 gallons of water which is usually enough to do the job. Our smaller 2300 gallon tanker also rolls just in case more is needed. Some departments have gone to ATV's for brush apparatus which is pretty cool. Were looking to purchase a Rhino for that exact purpose.
I am from a rural FD and I think that all rural FD should have brush trucks for no other reason than, it is easier to attack the fire in a smaller and lighter truck than a big and heavy engine.
we have 1 brush truck, we take a tanker and a pumper w/ us . brush trck. has 100 gal water ,rakes,shovels,Indian packs,chainsaws,backburnner. Utility trck has flappers ,rakes,shovels,also.
Yeah; we just ordered a Class A brush truck.
It is on an IH four wheeled drive chassis. It will have a 650 gallon water tank with an integrated foam eductor.
It has a bumper mounted fire monitor that is controlled by joystick from the cab. Top mounted pump controls. Has pre-cons and boosters.
And it will be rated as a Class A pumper.
Brush trucks will get you zero on ISO.
They are pretty limited in what they can do.
This truck we are ordering is multi-faceted. It will roll on field fires, MVAs, structural fires, HazMat calls, rescue and all for the low price of $298,000.
TCSS.
Art
Permalink Reply by matt on December 15, 2008 at 8:20pm
we have a cub cadet atv one of four i believe in our county and those are great they get alot farther than brush trucks and we have a tank and electric pump and radio built in so i think thats the way to go if there is alot of woods were a brush truck couldnt even get into the rough areas were this could
I live in Central Florida and my department has old Army deuce and a half's that the mechanics did a little work on them some have 500 gal tanks and some have 750 gal tanks. These trucks are damn near indestructable! I have put some of them through hell myself and they are always reliable! My 2 cents worth!
We have two brush trucks in our station. One is a old military 5/4 ton pick-up with a 250 gallon tank, pump and booster reel. And we recently added a foam siphon to this truck. The other is a old deuce and a half. It is old but it carries 1000 gallon's of water and has a booster reel and pump. Not to mention the original pump set up. These are both extremely useful for brush fires. They save our engines from the abuse and damage associated with driving offroad.