United States Forest Service

[Aaronw]

In the 1950s, the USFS attempted to bring some uniformity to its fire apparatus with the Model 1,2 and 3, which were all slip on pumpers. These were followed by the Model 50 and 56. The Model 50 was a flatbed pumper that could be easily converted between a pumper and a flatbed work truck for areas with low fire occurance. The Model 56 was a full time pumper that over time evolved into the Model 60, 61 and 62 which is still the current type 3 engine in California.



Model numbers do have some organization, although there are exceptions (including the initial Model 56) with leads me to believe Model organization was an afterthought.



Model 10s, 20s and 30s are small slip on units, 40s are small-medium PTO pumpers, 50s are based on a flatbed truck, 60s and 70s are large PTO pumpers, 80s have large (1000 gallon) tanks.



In 2010, the USFS adopted a new 3 digit model numbering system, the first number being the type (Type 3, Type 4 etc), the second is a 2 or a 4 based on 2wd or 4wd, the third digit gives the tank size in hundreds of gallons. So the new Model 346 is a type 3 engine, 4x4 chassis with a 600 gallon tank.





San Bernardino Model 56, 1959 Chevrolet

260 gpm PTO pump, 300 gallon tank, crew 5 (2 in the cab, 3 on the bench behind the cab)



Credit San Bernardino National Forest archives