BY ADAM M. PETRILLO
The fire district protected by the Austonio Volunteer Fire Department (VFD), in Howard County, Texas, is a rural ranching and farming area that presents plenty of opportunity for wildland and brush fires, leading the fire department to focus many of its efforts in that direction.
Austonio found itself in need of a new wildland/brush truck and got its firefighters together to determine what they wanted and, more importantly, what they needed to do their jobs well.
The result of their efforts is a wildland/brush rig that incorporates all the elements Austonio required: a compressed air foam system (CAFS), high ground clearance, and a heavy-duty chassis to take the pounding of off road firefighting.
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| 1 Unruh Fire built a wildland/brush rig for the Austonio Volunteer Fire Department, Houston County, Texas, on an International DuraStar 4300 heavy duty 4x4 chassis to give the vehicle high ground clearance. (Photos courtesy of Unruh Fire.) |
Spec Process
Russell Jenkins, chief of Austonio VFD, says the department invested three years of research, study, and shopping around to various vendors before it settled on Unruh Fire to build its wildland/brush truck. "We talked with a lot of vendors and then met with Unruh at the Texas A&M fire school in College Station, Texas, where they had an engine on display," Jenkins says. "We got talking with them, showed them the hand drawings of what we wanted, and they came in with the best plan for us and with more bang for the buck."
Wes Schamle, sales manager for Unruh Fire, says the Austonio firefighters wanted a vehicle on a large chassis with high ground clearance and with all gear either tied down securely or enclosed where possible. "We looked at the Ford F-650 and F-750 chassis but then leaned toward the International chassis because we could get the four-wheel drive they needed out of the factory with International instead of adding it afterward on the two Ford products," Schamle says. "We built their heavy wildland/brush truck on an International DuraStar 4300 4x4 chassis."
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| 2 The Austonio truck features a Rowe Equalizer 500-gpm CAFS powered by a 40-hp Kohler gasoline engine. |
The Truck
The vehicle is powered by a MaxxForce 7 300-horsepower (hp) diesel engine and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission; runs on a 158-inch wheelbase; has an overall height of nine feet, three inches; and has an overall length of 25 feet, nine inches.
Ground clearance was an important issue to Austonio firefighters, Schamle says. "For any brush rig, ground clearance is important, but more so in the area where Austonio is," he notes. "But on a vehicle the size of the DuraStar 4300 as a brush rig, ergonomics go out the window. So, we had to accommodate being able to climb onto the apparatus." That's why Unruh added hanging steel cable steps on each side of the rig.