BRUSH TRUCKS

SHOULD EVERY RURAL F.D USE BRUSH TRUCKS OR JUST STILL USE ENGINES

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Permalink Reply by Walter on August 29, 2008 at 10:04am

i think a brush truck is definetly an asset to a department. my dept is small and we only have one. it doesent get called out much but over a friday saturday we needed it two time it was definetly a life saver because the first one was about a mile of the main road and the entrance wasnt even big enough to fit or pumper in. and there were ruts about two feet deep all the way back. it also helped that our assistant chiefs truck is a four wheel drive tahoe. in fact the call ended up being tires burning. while back there a jacked up ram saw a tahoe with red and blue lights. they said they have never seen anyone bust a U turn that quickly.

the other call was about 3/4 of a mile of the road and the grass was just cut in fasct it looked like it was about 5 foot tall before the cut it and there was still about 2 foot left growing so it was a mess. we didnt have to chance taking the pumper back there, scratching it up adn possibly getting stuck.

another use of a brush truck is a personel transport. i take it to my FF2 class.

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Permalink Reply by Walter on August 29, 2008 at 10:07am

sorry so long winded yes. they have multiple uses.

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Permalink Reply by michael on September 19, 2008 at 2:35pm

if the need for wild land is there then you should have 4 wheel drive trucks

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Permalink Reply by Justin Buck on September 19, 2008 at 5:53pm

i think every rural dept. should because sometime u aint going to be able to get a tanker or pumper off roading

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Permalink Reply by Kenneth Holley on September 19, 2008 at 8:02pm

We have two 4-wheel drive brush trucks that we use on this type of response. They are the ones that go off road if need be. We sometimes respond a front run for water supply as some of our rural area has no plugs.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Brierton on September 19, 2008 at 9:48pm

It depends on what the area needs. Sometimes a brush truck works fine other times a small engine would work better. The more information you post about this question the better we all can provide you with some guidence and suggestions.

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Permalink Reply by Al Kersten on September 21, 2008 at 6:42pm

The Dept I'm on still uses our 1977 Ford 9oo series mini tanker/pumper. We also have a 6x6 polaris atv

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Brown on October 24, 2008 at 1:07pm

Yes i do it saves a lot of work for the F.F. hulling tools in to a remote area ( besides who dont like 4-wheeling )Now where im at we use both because we have a lot of pinelands engines on hard top brush on dirt

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Permalink Reply by Bill Muehsam on October 28, 2008 at 9:51pm

Here's what we built for use on Brush Fires.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan on October 28, 2008 at 10:15pm

use brush trucks, a brush truck is lighter, better suited for obstacles, terrain, less costly to repair, doesn't leave a district without an engine, but depends on your department, my department runs two brush trucks and an 4x4 engine as back up we don't usually stay at a brush fire to long, oh and less wear and tear on fire fighters, able to remove victims if the need arises in a hurry

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Permalink Reply by brian rogers on October 29, 2008 at 5:40pm

We have 1 1 ton with 200 gallons of water with foam it is our quick attack truck, we 2 trucks which carry 750 gallons each, 1 with 550 gallons, 1 1200 Tanker and 1Pumper.
For us its Brush Trucks, we are in a rural area of Stephens County Texas and our fires are 95 % Brush , so they work for us, its I believe your surroundings and location which will dictate your needs.