‘New’ brush truck boosts Burnet VFD’s firefighting capabilities
Texas Forest Service official Jimmy Mullis (left) transfers ownership of a surplus military vehicle to Burnet Volunteer Fire Department Chief Randy Meeks (second from left) and other department members. The department only had to pay to outfit the truck with equipment. Courtesy photo
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
BURNET — A few years ago, the engine on the Burnet Volunteer Fire Department’s heavy brush truck gave out. The volunteers had managed to drive the 1970s-era truck as far as they could, but with all the miles — and years — on the truck, department staff knew the vehicle’s journey was ending.
“We were just spending money trying to keep it running,” said Burnet VFD member Bob Myers. “And then, we just blew the motor in it.”
Replacing the truck would easily cost the department $200,000 or more. Not replacing it left a big hole in the community’s fire protection since a large truck offered more water-tank reserves.
Myers said the volunteer department still had two smaller brush trucks — each about the size of a pickup truck — but those only carried 300-400 gallons of water. During a tough blaze, those smaller units would have to leave the scene more often to refill with water.
In 2013, VFD Chief Randy Meeks approached Myers about a program through the Texas Forest Service that provided military surplus vehicles to fire departments. So Myers looked into the program and, in September 2013, submitted an application for one of the vehicles.
“In November 2013, they notified us that we qualified for the program,” Myers said. “In February (2014), they gave us a truck.”
The truck was an old military transport built in 2000, almost three decades after the vehicle it would replace. But as a surplus vehicle, the large truck still resembled something used for troop and supply transport, not a firefighting apparatus.
“The forest service gave us a deadline to turn it into a brush truck,” Myers said. “Basically, all we had to do was take the equipment off the old truck and transfer it to this one.”
On Dec. 15, Jimmy Mullis, the regional fire coordinator for the Texas Forest Service, officially transferred the ownership of the vehicle from the state to the Burnet VFD.
“We don’t want to have to put it to use, but it really gives us some capabilities we didn’t have without it,” Myers said. “It has a 1,200-gallon tank and all-wheel drive, so it can get into some pretty rough places with two to three times the water one of the other (smaller) brush trucks has.”
The state provided the truck at no cost to the department. Though Burnet VFD has an emergency services district to help financially support the department, Myers said the volunteers aren’t exactly flush with cash.
“We couldn’t have afforded this if we had to pay for it ourselves,” he said. “This is just a great program from the forest service. We’re grateful they have it and that we qualified for it.”
daniel@thepicayune.com