By Alan M. Petrillo
Wildland apparatus makers are continually looking to improve their products, based on feedback from the wildland firefighters taking their apparatus out onto the fire lines. By acting on that feedback, apparatus manufacturers are able to offer new and improved wildland apparatus designs.
The Ride
Doug Kelley, product manager for KME, says his company has seen a lot of changes in wildland vehicles in recent years. “First, we have a lot more requests for super single conversions for better off-road ability, along with putting on tires with a more aggressive tread pattern,” Kelley says. “With the larger tires, there’s usually a lift kit that raises the overall package but doesn’t make any significant change in the vehicle’s weight.”
 |
| 1 KME built this Type 6 wildland mini pumper for Litchfield Township (OH) Fire & Rescue on a Ford F-550 crew cab chassis with a super singles conversion carrying a Hale MG 1,000-gpm pump, a CET gasoline-driven auxiliary pump, and a 200-gallon water tank. (Photo courtesy of KME.) |
Joe Messmer, president of Summit Fire Apparatus, concurs on the trend toward super singles. “A lot of fire departments are getting away from the dual rear tires and having us put super singles on their wildland and brush trucks,” Messmer points out. “When they take a truck off the road and into the fields with dual rear tires, very often they get bogged down with mud stuck in between the duals. The super singles cure that problem.”
Messmer adds that when wildland vehicles go off-road, the heavier they are, the quicker they sink into the soil. “Many departments are going with a Ford F-350 chassis for their Type 6 because it’s lighter than the F-550,” he says.
 |
| 2 The U.S. Navy facility in Patuxent River, Maryland, had KME build this wildland Type 6 patrol unit that includes a dual low-pressure/ultra-high-pressure (LP/UHP) pumping system capable of about 120 gpm at 120 psi and eight gpm at 1,200 psi. (Photo courtesy of KME.) |
What Type?
Doug Feldman, western regional manager for Rosenbauer, says the company has seen a trend of fire departments and agencies moving toward Type 6 apparatus. “It’s a much smaller configuration than a typical Type 3 engine,” Feldman notes, “but still allows the department to carry 300 or 400 gallons of water with the maneuverability and accessibility that you don’t have in a Type 3.” Feldman adds that “the cost of a Type 6 is lower than that of a Type 3, which may be another driving factor in the trend.”
Bob Sorensen, vice president of SVI Trucks, says his company has seen activity in both Type 6 and Type 3 engines, with the Type 3 models continuing to be popular, especially in the western United States. “We’ve built four Type 3 engines for the Dallas (TX) F