PRESS RELEASE
By Stephen Warns, Joint Base San Antonio
SUMNER, Wash. – U.S. Army Installation Management Command recently purchased five Wildland Type VI brush trucks in support of their wildland urban interface operations. The trucks are expected to greatly improve fleet readiness and generate significant cost savings.
Al Rivera, IMCOM Fire Protection Specialist, saw first-hand the capability and durability of the brush trucks — rugged enough to handle adverse terrain and wildland interface operations yet easy to drive and operate.
“The trucks are strong and powerful, yet they have great maneuverability,” Rivera said.
IMCOM purchased five Wildland Type VI vehicles in FY23 and plans to purchase 15 more vehicles in the next 12 months at a cost ranging from $190,000 to $200,000.
Lloyd Hamilton, CEO of U.S. Fire Equipment, a company that produces wildland fire vehicles, has supported Army Fire and Emergency Services operations for about 18 years.
“We’re looking forward to our continual commitment in providing high-quality fire vehicles to meet their mission requirements,” Hamilton said.
“For me and my company, our commitment to the U.S. military is above anything else because they protect us,” he said. “We’re helping the people who protect us. They help us sleep at night. Twenty-five percent of our workforce are veterans. We really emphasize on hiring veterans because they come to us with a sense of duty and wanting to help and give back to their communities, which is a big benefit.”
Among the Wildland Type VI brush truck’s features are an off-road suspension lift kit with heavy-duty off-road shocks, a 400-gallon water tank, a winch that features 80 feet of 3/8-inch synthetic rope and an 18,000-pound capacity hook, and a thermal camera mounted on top of the truck that features a removable tablet on the dashboard. It has what is known as Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, capability, where it can handle a wildland fire or engage with a car or structure fire.
Fort Carson Fire Chief Rob Fisher, whose department already has the Wildland Type VI brush truck, said the truck is diverse enough to operate at any Army installation. Since the Wildland Type VI will be the standard brush truck across the Army installations, it makes it easier to get somebody up to speed, he said.
“What we’ve done is taken an already established framework of a specification and incorporated the diversity of the different installations and how it’s going to be used across the Army versus different trucks with different specifications,” Fisher said. “The modifications that do need to be made are minimal modifications. The apparatus’ components are the same except for maybe the tires and the lift.”
