Private contract fire equipment

[Aaronw]

Another dump truck / water tender conversion of an older KenWorth dump truck. This was one was operated by a local rancher near Stanley, Idaho.

 

 

[Aaronw]

Contract Type 4 engine operated by Intermountain Fire Services of Utah.

 

 

[Aaronw]

On call type 2 hand crews are frequently sponsored by Federal agencies. While organized by the agency, technically all the crew members are independant contractors. The use of these crews can trace their beginnings to the early days where Forest Rangers would often hire directly from mining and logging camps or last ditch the local bars and saloons. These days most of the crew members come from colleges, indian reservations and agricultural workers, crews are now established before the fire season, not after a fire breaks out.

 

As these crews are not a standing resource they often do not have assigned transportation. An entire contract industry has formed around transporting these crews, many using retired school buses. The crews and buses usually are not related.

 

The agency crew bosses that accompany these crews have their hands full with paperwork often having to juggle the contract paperwork of the 18-20 individual crew members, the 4-6 chainsaws which may each have a contract and the bus in addition to keeping the crew safe and effective on the fireline.

 

This one is operated Big Sky Busing Inc of Montana.

[Aaronw]

Expeditors is a large fire contractor with multiple locations throughout the west including Northern California, Nevada and Idaho. Fire Crew buses are a large part of their business.

 

 

[Aaronw]

With IH's dominance of the large school bus market, a Freightliner bus is unusual. LC Express of Arizona operates this crew bus.

 

 

[Aaronw]

Tactical Transport of Oregon operates this crew bus.

 

 

[1958 F.W.D.]

When I went down to Dade County, Fl after Hurricane Andrew, they had all the mutual aid firefighters and cops staying in a public park, with these same shower set ups- they certainly were very welcome. Chow was provided by one of these outfits via one of their field kitchen set-ups which was also impressive. Do you have any pics of those????

[Aaronw]

Not all contract hand crews are on call. There are many contract companies that field 20 person type 2 crews, just like the agencies. These crews often conduct forestry and fuels reduction work under contract when not assigned to a fire.

 

Firestorm Wildfire Services of Northern California fields several type 2 crews, each with two 10 person buggys modeled on those used by the Federal Type 1 Hotshot crews.

 

 

[Aaronw]

When I went down to Dade County, Fl after Hurricane Andrew, they had all the mutual aid firefighters and cops staying in a public park, with these same shower set ups- they certainly were very welcome. Chow was provided by one of these outfits via one of their field kitchen set-ups which was also impressive. Do you have any pics of those????

 

I'm sure I do, I just haven't run across any yet. I'm not really doing this in an organized way, just sorting through my files and pulling out stuff that fits.

 

The shower units and food units certainly do make camping in a park like the homeless much more comfortable.

[Aaronw]

Firestorm also has a small fleet of Type 6 engines

 

 

[Aaronw]

North Tree Fire International also of Northern California operates a large fleet of engines, water tenders and other non-fire line support services.

 

This is one of their Type 6 engines, easily recognized by their unusual choice of blue.

 

 

[firephoto]

North Tree also has/had this monster Oshkosh rig used mostly on campaign fires.

 

Scott    

[firephoto]

Another

[firephoto]

One more..

[jgohio]

Great idea for a thread.  Good photos and interesting info.

Thanks.

 

Joe

[Monrovia1]

[BFD1151]

My late Grandpa used to drive a bus just like this. The contract company he worked for got it surplus from the US Air Force or Navy and removed the back 3-4 rows of seats for the hand crews' equipment. It was very interesting to hear the stories of the American Indian crews on some of the fires he went to in FL and a few in NC. He also got to travel to Texas to assist in the Space Shuttle Columbia debris recovery with his bus.

[John Kenealy]

Contract type 3 engine operated by Outback Firefighting of Montana. This again shows the ingenuity of some contractors, the black box behind the cab that resembles a sleeper is the water tank.

Ex-West Winfield (Herkimer County) NY, http://www.cnyfiretrucks.com/gallery/alb...nk303r.jpg

[Aaronw]

Ex-West Winfield (Herkimer County) NY, http://www.cnyfiretrucks.com/gallery/alb...nk303r.jpg

 

Interesting, I assumed it was a retired fire engine due to the front mount pump, but did not expect it to have been in service in that configuation. Surely it was not delivered like that, must have been salvaged at some point?

[Guest]

Another dump truck / water tender conversion of an older KenWorth dump truck. This was one was operated by a local rancher near Stanley, Idaho.

 

Wow, that is quite a sight.  I never would have expected to see a poly tank in a dump bed being called a tender.  Thanks for sharing.