Fire Dept Wildland truck opportunity

[NEIOWA]

I've long worked DOD surplus for equipment for my Fire Dept (I'm Chief). At Ft McCoy last week and find that they have recently started receiving dozens of early HMMWV that Sam is not going to rebuild. The trucks I looked a were very clean low mile (less than 20k) in good condition. Exactly like the stuff I used at Ft Lewis 25yr ago.

Apparently there are thousands of HMMWV that will soon be coming out for Guard/Reserve units. BUT DRMS was only allowing transfer to cops (thru LESO program) or Foreign Military sales. Not supposed to work that way LESO and FFP (fire dept transfer program). Contact my Senators and Rep and DRMS. Someone got it fixed. FD will soon be able to request HMMWV. Sounds like will have to return the trucks for demil when we are done with them. If Foreign Military sales doesn't snatch them up to send to .....

5 of the models that will be available.

The NSNs are:
2320-01-107-7155 M998
2320-01-107-7156 M1038
2320-01-128-9551 M1025
2320-01-371-9584 M1025A1
2320-01-371-9577 M998A1

The HMMWV will be a GREAT base for FD wildland trucks. Hopefully to see the trucks soon.

 

[Vet89]

Where in NE Iowa? I am in CR. Let me know when your Fire Dept decides to sell them!

 

[Trailboss]

Police and FDs are snatching them up like candy from Ft. Polk in LA. I'm surprised the Forest Service hasn't picked them (or more of them) up yet.

 

[MRFD715]

Hmmmm............ Might have to rethink the M35 idea if we can get our hands on one of those!

 

[KsM715]

Where in NE Iowa? I am in CR. Let me know when your Fire Dept decides to sell them!

They won't be allowed to sell them. They will have to return them for demil.

 

[MRFD715]

Just doing some digging on specs for those models and what I'm finding is that there is only a 2,500 pound payload capacity. Is that right? If so that doesn't leave you any room at all for water and equipment. Maybe the info I found isn't correct?

 

[KsM715]

HMMWV are considered 5/4 ton trucks so yes, 2500lbs is correct. I'm not a HMMWV guy but I think there are some heavier rated trucks (shelter carriers) but I dont think they are rated that much more.

 

[skidunits4you]

I think they will make ok fast attack trucks but with limited water its not what I would use. Just my two cents

 

[NEIOWA]

Like I said they have to back to DOD for DEMIL (scrap). I asked senator/rep office to tell me why they can't be sold. I have read story the GM/gov't motors had a fit years ago about it but haven't seen any orginal source document that states such. In any case GM closed down "HUMMER" some time ago.

There are Heavy versions of the 1st series but not being surplused. The reason being for dumping the std 1st Series is they don't have GVW for armor etc. Just not enough margin in chassis, suspension strenght for much overload and GI break them. Was a problem 20years ago and with call for armor doesn't work. You're not going to put 500gal on one. Load appropriately and you can go dang near anywhere where you can physically fit beween the trees/rocks. Not going to be really fast as the 6.2 is only about 150hp. A BIG tradeup in offroad capabilty compared to a CUCV or civ. pickup.


See:
http://www.roscommonequipmentcenter.com/projects/rec56.pdf

Take note of the "how to mount tank/equipment" section

 

[NEIOWA]

Police and FDs are snatching them up like candy from Ft. Polk in LA. I'm surprised the Forest Service hasn't picked them (or more of them) up yet.

Because until yesterday they were coded for cops/LESO only. DRMS says in error. Perhaps a sheriff needed a place to park his M998 and a friendly fire station helped him out.

 

[NEIOWA]

Hmmmm............ Might have to rethink the M35 idea if we can get our hands on one of those!

An M35A3 is a 600-900gal a 600gal pod is a great and easy route.

see Roscommon Equipment Center a great resource.

A HMMWV is not.

 

[skidunits4you]

(see avatar) M35 with 600 gal also have a M939 with 1200 gallons on it

 

[skidunits4you]

This one has 800 gallons on it.

 

[MRFD715]

see Roscommon Equipment Center a great resource.

I have checked that site out, not very throughly though.

I was thinking the HMMWV would be the easy route for us because we already have a 300 gallon tank and pump setup in the back of an old Dodge W200 ex-Air Force P-10 and we could just switch it over to that. But there is just no way it would handle that weight, according to the numbers. Also, it would be considerably smaller than an M35 and space in our is getting pretty tight as it is.

I almost wish we wouldn't have just gotten a new rescue rig. A HMMWV would be great for that!

 

[Troll1216]

Get a mil surp trailer and add a 375 IBC tote....

Just my 0.02

 

[NEIOWA]

Get a mil surp trailer and add a 375 IBC tote....

Just my 0.02

Just make it an M1102 series(new style 3/4t) or you'll just break it. But you're looking at additional 250gal or so.

 

[John S-B]

An M35A3 is a 600-900gal a 600gal pod is a great and easy route.

see Roscommon Equipment Center a great resource.

A HMMWV is not.

An M-35 is NOT a great and easy route. With 600 gallons of water you will be OVERWEIGHT for off road. And Pods are not baffled which will increase the danger. Not to mention no ROPS. Unless they are purpose rebuilt by a commercial brush truck company, FD's should stay away from M35's. There are plenty of NIOSH LODD reports to back that up.

 

[John S-B]

Just doing some digging on specs for those models and what I'm finding is that there is only a 2,500 pound payload capacity. Is that right? If so that doesn't leave you any room at all for water and equipment. Maybe the info I found isn't correct?

An option for you to look at is the Tri-Max CAFS system. It uses up to a 200 gal tank with SCUBA bottles to charge the system. They're not real cheap, but they put out a LOT of foam for the size of the system. And you wouldn't have the weight to deal with. But you still wouldn't have ROPS on a deuce. They do make smaller units that would fit in some of the Humvee's. We had a couple of 1025's, but we got rid of them because of maint. problems and safety issues. They have poor visibility on the road, poor crash protection, and are very noisy so we had to put headsets in to hear and talk on the radio. We went to a commercial built grass truck.

 

[MRFD715]

An option for you to look at is the Tri-Max CAFS system. It uses up to a 200 gal tank with SCUBA bottles to charge the system. They're not real cheap, but they put out a LOT of foam for the size of the system. And you wouldn't have the weight to deal with. But you still wouldn't have ROPS on a deuce. They do make smaller units that would fit in some of the Humvee's. We had a couple of 1025's, but we got rid of them because of maint. problems and safety issues. They have poor visibility on the road, poor crash protection, and are very noisy so we had to put headsets in to hear and talk on the radio. We went to a commercial built grass truck.

We would love to get a commercially built brush rig, or even a commercially built slide-in unit of some sort, however that's not even an option for us. We've got a yearly budget of less than $40,000 and we have to (not want to, HAVE to) replace our 30 year old pumper this year. We try to be as resourceful as we can with very little money.

Originally the HMMWV looked good to me because I was thinking we would be able to use a setup that we already have on it, then I found the weight ratings and it's not possible for us to use it. All but one piece of our supression apparatus are 30+ years old so we're just trying to come up with something that will bring us a little more up to date.

 

[John S-B]

We would love to get a commercially built brush rig, or even a commercially built slide-in unit of some sort, however that's not even an option for us. We've got a yearly budget of less than $40,000 and we have to (not want to, HAVE to) replace our 30 year old pumper this year. We try to be as resourceful as we can with very little money.

Originally the HMMWV looked good to me because I was thinking we would be able to use a setup that we already have on it, then I found the weight ratings and it's not possible for us to use it. All but one piece of our supression apparatus are 30+ years old so we're just trying to come up with something that will bring us a little more up to date.

I feel for you. I wish every fire district would support their fire dept the way ours does. We've been able to get all our old stuff replaced. As a matter of fact we're going up to Pierce in Wis. next week for a pre-build on our new truck. It will replace an '85 GMC. Our oldest piece will be a '91, which is in good condition, it's just a commercial chassis which is the biggest drawback. I don't know how you guys survive on what little you get. My full time dept. gets these government grants for the most rediculous things, and you guys are still running antique trucks. Good luck, just make sure your guys do a lot of drivers training.