Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brett Walker on May 22, 2010 at 6:49pm

We have a procedure to call them Tenders. Because a common term for the aircraft are tankers. The volunteer department I am on has this procedure. The Wildland Crew I am on calls the aircraft "Bombers", so it is a moot point.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Salinger on August 19, 2010 at 11:09am

Im not a fan of these trucks in the bush. Safety wise they are great but manuverability is an issue. departure angle is terrible due to those lockers behind the rear guards. Iv seen the spare tires ripped off too!! Apart from that pumping and general operational use is fantastic.

Permalink Reply by Tony P on August 20, 2010 at 4:58am

Yes Andrew, those under-tray lockers are awful in tight/steap country. Not to say that Halls Gap operate in flat country - can hardly call the Grampians 'flat'! At a guess I'd say the trucks were designed by someone that never got off the birumen. And the same person must have had a hand in designing the 3.4C's - in some ways a great truck, but not in steep or tight country though. Not that it matters, we can't fit a 3.4C in our shed! A 2.4C would fit though... The 2.4C has all the benefits of the 3.4, albeit less water, and a much shorter wheelbase.

Permalink Reply by JP Desilets on September 9, 2010 at 8:29pm

I can't keep it straight myself, we have an 6,200 gallon semi trailer tanker(tender) assigned to my station and it's 50-50 what we all call it

Permalink Reply by Daniel Luechtefeld on September 17, 2010 at 8:22pm

I am out west, and our 3000 gal. tenders not only have pumps, but also 1.75" crosslays, a deck gun, four SCBA mounted in a side compartment, and four spare air bottles.

The nomenclature for this vehicle configuration is "attack tender".

This works for us as most of our firefighters respond in POVs from home. When the first due apparatus is a tender, it can be used by POV-arriving firefighters for a defensive attack until the engine arrives.

Permalink Reply by Ray Hayden on September 19, 2010 at 6:24pm

In the Bureau of Forestry, trucks carrying large quantities of water are tenders . . . when we refer to air ops, it's tankers. The confusion comes in when we have structural comapnies working with forestry crews.

Permalink Reply by Micheal A Whelan on September 23, 2010 at 9:23am

Interesting question. When I first arrived at in my new district part of my duties were to go to all the agencies in the district to get to know the people. My first stop was a department with 11 stations in a urban wildland environment. As we were discussing capabilities and staffing the subject of equipment had to fall to "tankers". I was very impressed the Chief said they had 9 tankers and were in the process of getting two more. Knowing the area was heavily forested with only two airports I had to ask the question "do you keep them at one airport of dived them between the two?" This question received rather blank looks from the Chiefs, with an unspoken "who is this idiot?" on their lips. The response finally came .. Noo we keep them at each station. I suddenly realized they were speaking of tenders, and explained that in my world tankers had wings, tenders drove on the ground. After a short chuckle I was promptly told that I worked in their world now. That brief conversation followed me for the next 10 years as I taught at their fire academy, and taught tanker / tender as part of the lesson plans. As our agency used both, and they were comming to assist in my world they quickly learned the value of common terms. As a note as I traveled the US teaching and fighting fires this was common. Wildland people US and Canada seem to refer to tankers as having wings. Urban/wildland agencies do the same. Pure structure agencies tend to refer to the wheeled water carriers as tankers. My guess is much of their term comes from the early history of fuel and milk bulk trucks were called tankers. Those were the early water delivery systems for fire departments.

Permalink Reply by Mark Limmer on December 20, 2010 at 4:59pm

In South Dakota it depends on what side of the river you're on. East river they are tankers, West River they are tenders...

Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on January 3, 2013 at 10:43pm

When I'm home at my FD we call it (truck) a tanker. When I'm out on a wildfire in another state, we call it a tender. Perhaps some day we'll start calling our water supply vehicle a tender at home too. That would be a step in the right direction. At least the chief knows not to call for a tanker when he's talking to the Forest Service. LOL

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