302 is a 1966 Kaiser 2 1/2-ton military 6x6 (deuce and a half), placed into service in March, 1999. It is B-B-B-BAD TO THE BONE, and as our "first-out" on wildland fires, has been the most-used truck in our fleet.
North West Rogers County Fire Department (thanks, guys) donated a 600-gallon bed that had been used on one of their trucks. Since we had the bed, we asked Forestry for another 6x6 to go under it. This truck has a 250 GPM 18-HP Hale HP200X pump. The pump and hose reels were purchased with a grant from the state. This truck will carry 600 gallons of water practically anywhere.
Oh yes - In January, 2000, we installed an air-operated power steering kit on this truck, and we're planning to do the same to our other "deuces". We have concluded that the expenditure was well worth the reduced effort required to maneuver this truck over rough terrain for hours at a time. If you're interested in spending $800 and about five hours of labor to make your deuce steer like a Deere, email Bill at killerb-at-cimtel.net and he'll point you in the right direction.
We liked this truck so much, we built another one - see 301. I know it logically seems like this truck should be 301, and the next one should be 302, but what the heck. When you shift in the middle of the game from names to numbers, things get confused for a while.
