If you're looking for pictures of new, shiny, state-of-the-art engines, ladders, aerials, rescues, squads, snorkels, squirts and quints, you're at the wrong web site.
We don't even know what a "quint" IS, but we'd like to have one anyway.
After starting with nothing very few years ago, we are now in possession of nine vehicles, four of which are on indefinite (permanent) loan from Oklahoma Forestry Services. Five of these units were rigged for fire service with lean resources by volunteer labor.
But before we get to the pics, here are a few words about RURAL fire apparatus -
In rural areas, the vast majority of calls will be to wildland fires, so in addition to structural fire fighting equipment, rural fire departments must have fire trucks that can follow fires across rough terrain, fighting fire on the move with a crew of two.
We have NO HYDRANTS in most of the area for which we are responsible out here in the sticks, so we also have to figure out a way to get the water to the fire. As chasing water with attack trucks can be profoundly inconvenient, we must have some trucks which are primarily dedicated to water transport in order to continuously (in theory, anyway) replenish our water supply. It is also beneficial if the transport trucks have rough terrain capability and are crewed with alert, adventurous, sharp-eyed personnel, because some of the places we may have to go to get water are not easily accessible, and snakes live there.
Rural fire trucks are not show trucks. Many (if not most) will have dents and scratches and cracked lenses on them due to
1) the conditions in which they must operate (off of paved roads), and
2) lack of funds to keep them smooth and shiny.
Some would turn up their noses at most rural fire trucks, because they aren't necessarily pretty. But consider the odds that you will ever see a municipal fire crew bouncing a shiny new $250,000 pumper across Farmer Brown's place while extinguishing a grass fire on the run.
Pretty slim, huh? "Works good" looks good to us.
We now have a total of exactly eight more operational fire trucks (and 20 people that know what to do with them) than we had in this community ten years ago.
We like to call that "PROGRESS".
For those of you who might sneer at our meager stable of bargain basement fire apparatus, we now invite you to slap yourself smartly about the ears and face, and remind you that we've been operational only ten years as this is scribed, we are NOT tax-supported, and this is what we're STARTING with. (I know, I know, I'm not supposed to end sentences with prepositions. So sue me.)
We will continue to improve things as time goes on.
Indeed we will.
Indeed we have.
We have come a long way from January 1997, when we started with a 4x4 grass rig and a tanker.
Why so many units for a small rural fire department?
As most of our equipment is old, we anticipate various units being out of service for whatever reason from time to time. We perceive, therefore, that it is not a bad idea to have a little redundancy built into our fleet. Also, we have the capability to assist our neighboring departments while leaving a reserve force in place to protect the home front.
101 - 1990 Jeep Cherokee\
- command/scout/minor medical
201 - 1983 Ford/Grumman pumper
- 1000 gpm, 750 gal.
301 - 1966 Kaiser 6x6 heavy brush truck
- 250 gpm, 700 gal.
302 - 1965 Kaiser 6x6 heavy brush truck
- 250 gpm, 600 gal.
401 - 1966 Kaiser 6x6 tanker
- 300 gpm, 1000 gal.
501 - 2007 Ford 4x4 grass rig (coming soon)
- 150 gpm, 300 gal
502 - 1986 Chevy 4x4 grass rig (coming soon)
- 90 gpm, 200 gal
503 - 1986 Chevy 4x4 grass rig
- 90 gpm, 200 gal
601 - 1979 Chevy 4x4 mini-pumper
- medical/rescue-extrication/support
These former Silver City units are no longer in service, but worth a look, listed in retirement order:
1974 International 4x4 grass rig
1970 Dodge 400
1984 Ford 4x4 grass rig
1962 Ford/Central Pumper