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We had 2 more wildland fires yesterday. Today we are red flag warned. Extreme fire behavior if one gets started.
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Flying to Indiana in the morning. Going to inspect a used pumper, if it is as described we will hand them a check and drive it 656 miles home at 68 mph.
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I was up at 0430 yesterday so we could catch a flight to Indianapolis. Drove to Eaton and test drove the truck. Pumped with it, fixed a couple minor issues, and hit the road for home. We dumped all the water out which made the ride more rough, but increased fuel economy. The big cummins drives like a dream and the truck is very easy to drive. We let some of the volunteers drive it, and even the loudest hold out said "I think we may have gotten a heck of a deal on this truck". We got in at 0400 this morning.
Red500
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It's always fun to get a new (to you) toy.
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Here is the engine that replaced it for Eaton leaving to make a run. They got money...we don't
Fatsquatch
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We got decals on her. Sunday the whole department pitched in and we offloaded everything off the old pumper and onto the new one. We held training, and she is in service protecting our communities. Now we have to figure out how to replace our brush truck.
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Grass fire season was slower than normal but the fires we hit were larger than normal. We had one that was pretty late in our fire season. Wind was 40 mph from the west and humidity was 10-15%. We are guessing a faulty vehicle started grass fires along ~14 miles of I-35. We had 4 in our district and we had structures threatened. Fighting fire in the back yards of homes. It was pretty sketchy. I pinched the headfire between I-35 and a tree row on foot dragging hoseline. Smoke was so thick on I-35 we shut it down after a car hit a tender in the smoke. We requested aid and every fire department in the county responded to the request as well as 2 from neighboring counties. We had cedars torching out around us. My brother came out with the paid department and when we met up he told me he was getting pretty nervous. Had a couple more burn 100 acres and 500 acres. We only initial attacked 15 grass fires ytd and got cancelled while enroute to 5 more. We had one 6/27 well past traditional fire season that had 40 ft flame lengths in sericea lespedza. I was working but my brother said it was nuts.
Newest brush truck went down twice (by new I mean 2004). So we have that going for us. Trying to find new funding sources to build new trucks. If you have an idea I am all ears.
Here is a new build from a company using the same bumper. I kinda like where their offroad lights are. I can get nilights the same size and mount them.
Newest brush truck went down twice (by new I mean 2004). So we have that going for us. Trying to find new funding sources to build new trucks. If you have an idea I am all ears.
Here is a new build from a company using the same bumper. I kinda like where their offroad lights are. I can get nilights the same size and mount them.
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May end up getting canned from my volunteer job lol. After our fire meeting the other night I emailed the fire board president (they control the money given to us by the county) about being involved in the budgeting process. I got back an email saying "We have already submitted a flat budget to the county, we will talk about it at the next meeting." One of the reasons I asked to be inluded is the last 3 years they budget $5k for repairs. In the last 3 years that hasn't been enough. We were at $6k one week into this year. We go from broken truck emergency to broken truck emergency with no replacement plan. Many people are in non compliant ppe and equipment costs are up 40%-50%. The brush truck I referenced above (its actually an 01 F-350 I mistyped) actually caught fire 3 weeks ago due to an oil leak and was down twice during the fire season. We have an 02 F-350 with a broken leaf spring, loose steering and it needs new tie rods and they told us it needed to wait. It also only carries 200 gallons and has no good way to fight a running grass fire. Then we have the rescue truck pictured earlier in the thread. I don't see how we can continue down this path. I was one of the guys sitting on the side of I-35 with a truck that was totally dark waiting on a tow truck for 90 minutes after everybody left the fire. Its pretty demoralizing. IDK, maybe they will run me off and I will have more free time and money. Spent 3 hours changing oil at the station tonight. Got some blackstone samples to send off tomorrow.
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Rayger143
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I hear this kinda stuff up here too with Search and Rescue along with volunteer firefighters. Too many bean counters that make too much money for what they do. It seems to be getting worse each year. Keep your head up and roll with the punches. Everyone benefits from people like yourself.
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Well on the good side, I got the email this morning we were awarded the assistance to firefighter's grant thru FEMA for nearly $40k. FEMA pays 95% and we pay 5%. It will outfit volunteers that have no PPE or that are in PPE that needs to be retired. Its a huge win for us. We got 10 sets of structural pants/coats and 7 sets of wildland pants coats.
I went into the bank (where our board president is also the bank president) to ask if I could go ahead and accept the grant. He didn't say anything about the email.
I went into the bank (where our board president is also the bank president) to ask if I could go ahead and accept the grant. He didn't say anything about the email.
TxDoc
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Can you get the local TV and radio stations help announce you are raising funds, and possibly a Go Fund Me, or something that local folks can donate for the 5% and other needs and wants?
Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk
Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk
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We are discussing it. A neighboring department has a equipment fund that is 501c and run by the firefighters. Their chief told me they don't tell their board how much money is in it. They vote on where to spend it. We aren't alone in our struggles. A friend of mine is a chief and covers the north part of the county with 3 stations and a $67k budget. Board president called me today after I sent out a group text asking if I can accept this grant. He wants to talk about my email. He said he appreciates my thoughts and wants to sit down and have a dialogue. Much better than I thought it would go.
I've seen gofundme acct's before for VFDs but they don't do much of anything money wise. If I was king and had an unlimited budget I would build 2 of these exact truck. But those are about ~$230k. Humboldt Volunteer Fire Department – Weis Fire & Safety Equipment, LLC
I've seen gofundme acct's before for VFDs but they don't do much of anything money wise. If I was king and had an unlimited budget I would build 2 of these exact truck. But those are about ~$230k. Humboldt Volunteer Fire Department – Weis Fire & Safety Equipment, LLC
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May have found an offroad light. I want to buy a pair and inspect them. Stud mount, so it would go through the mesh on the front.
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Just got notified that another grant I wrote has been awarded. It will allow us to finish the build out of remote monitors on our remaining 2 trucks.
TxDoc
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Buggyman
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Hay baler and hayfield fire tonight. 80k baler destroyed. Damaged the tractor as well. They also lost 10 acres and 2 bales to the grass fire that ensued. It was 95 degrees. I am beat.
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