Program grants new rigs to fire department

Fires- beware, our fire districts are sporting some new cool wheels.

Possibly seen by residents chugging along in the Silver Valley, Shoshone County Fire Districts one, three, and Mullan Volunteer recently received three repurposed military grade vehicles.

Made possible by the Federal Excess Personal Property program and the Firefighter Property program, the local departments received two HEMTT A4- M978A4 Fuel Servicing tankers (going to District one and three) and one FMTV (going to Mullan) for a fraction of their actual price.

The original acquisition cost for the two HEMTT tankers was $396,130, but thanks to the aforementioned programs managed by the United States Forest Service in cooperation with state forestry agencies (in this case, the Idaho Department of Lands), the fire departments only had to foot approximately one percent of the bill.

In the case of Mullan’s FMTV, the original cost is normally $184,333, but they only had to pay less than two percent of that to put it into operational service.

“We would never be able to have a vehicle like this,” Mullan Fire Chief Patrick Nolan said, “Mullan would never be able to afford this type of vehicle- ever. It just wouldn’t happen.”

Mullan’s FMTV boasts some impressive specifications including six wheel drive, backup/blind-spot cameras, a 18,000 pound winch, a 1,400 gallon water tank, space to haul equipment or people, and several other buzzers and bells.

Most of the additions on this vehicle were installed by the Mullan firefighters and it also has the capability of hooking up a hose to spray water directly from the tank.

Nolan was very excited to have this vehicle in his department, saying that it fills a need in this rural area.

““This truck will be able to access pretty much any area we need to go,” Nolan explained, “Mullan has a lot of hills, lots of homes up above- so this truck will be able top get to those home quickly.”

The larger 8- wheeled HEMTT tankers (nicknamed by the fire crews as “Godzillas”) can carry 2,500 gallons of water and has similar accessories to the FMTV.

Originally designed as a fuel delivery vehicle for the military, the vehicles description on the manufactures website speaks to its reliability.

“Whether refuling ground vehicles or aircraft, the HEMTT A4 fuel servicing truck provides the consistent reliability and performance members of the armed forces can rely on.”

The main purpose of these vehicles now are to deliver large amounts of water to rural problem areas where fire hydrants are not available.

In a wildfire situation, fire crews will set up what they call a “birdbath” and use it as a collection point for water.

These trucks will give local fire crews the ability to fill these birdbaths up in significantly less time than before with their old rigs.

Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) Kjell Truesdell praised the effort of the local departments and the USFS for this opportunity to give small departments much needed equipment.

“The Department of Lands is just the pass through agency,” Truesdale said, “we grab the vehicles as they come through, but its all screened by them and we just get them what they want.”

With the acquisition of these vehicles, local agencies will even be able to better assist IDL if they are in need of help in a wildfire situation.

“Its a win, win,” Truesdale said.

Last but not least, due to programs stating that the local agencies could no longer keep the trucks their original military camouflage, Dave Smith Motors stepped up and provided a front-to-back red-camo wrap on all three vehicle.

Nolan said that even with Dave Smith helping the agencies with the cost, wrapping the vehicles was much cheaper than having to repaint them.

To see these new rigs in person, stop by the Mullan Volunteer Fire open house today, going from 1 to 4 p.m.