This one, called a rural interface vehicle, is state-of-the-art, according to Fire Chief Donald C. “Donnie” Morris.
The International, 7400 Series Work Star was built by Blanchart Manufacturing of Kansas, Morris said. The 10-wheel rig is powered by a 330-horsepower Cummins diesel engine with a separate, 240-horsepower Cummins diesel engine on the back to operate the 750-gallon-per-minute pumping system.
“This one’s gonna be a real workhorse,” said Assistant Fire Chief Bill Burris.
He pointed to the “stinger nozzle in the middle of the front of the truck just behind the front bumper and said the nozzle can be operated entirely by the driver by simply pushing some buttons in the cab of the truck.
That nozzle, two sweeper nozzles on each corner of the front bumper and a monitor nozzle will make it possible for volunteer firemen to fight just about any kind of rural fire that needs fighting.
“The good thing about this truck is that it didn’t cost the City of Beeville a penny,” said Morris.
The $280,000 rig was purchased using a $155,000 grant from the Texas Forestry Service, $100,000 donated by Bee County’s Central Fire District and another $27,000 put up by the BVFD.
That money, Burris said, was raised entirely by the department’s annual chicken barbecues.
The truck has been dubbed Engine 4 because it follows right after Engine 3, the department’s $330,000 fire truck purchased recently using a grant and a loan made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Morris said the bumper sweeper nozzles on the corners of the front bumper will enable the new truck to approach grass fires or hay bale fires without anyone ever having to leave the cab of the vehicle.
Also, a man can operate a 500-gallon-per-minute monitor nozzle mounted at the top of the truck.
Morris said he came up with much of the design of the system himself.
“I designed it the way I wanted,” Morris said. “It’s a truck that is not readily available right now.”
“It’s designed to fight rural fires using all the latest technology,” he said.
That means compressed air foam with a huge pump and a system that can be operated by the driver while the truck is rolling.
With the foam capability, no fire, including oil tank fires, house fires, barn fires or burning car crashes, will be able to stand up to the system, he said.
Morris said the truck can start putting out something like a highway accident fire from up to 100 yards away from the scene.
In rough or muddy terrain, Morris said the driver can immediately push a button and put the big rig into all-wheel drive, meaning all eight of the rear wheels will turn at the same time.
Between the department’s two new trucks, “we’ll be able to fight any kind of fire,” Morris said.
The department now has three trucks capable of using the compressed air foam systems, including E-3 and E-4 and a large pickup truck the department rigged with a system so firemen could see how well the foam system works.
Earlier this year, the department rigged each one of its rural brush trucks with foam capabilities.
Foam breaks down the surface tension of burning objects and allows the water to soak into the fuel quicker. By using foam, firefighters can extinguish a fire with a fraction of the water it would take to douse it otherwise.
Morris said the department has yet to pick a captain for the new truck. That probably will be decided sometime this week.
The vehicle will carry three fully equipped firemen in the rear of the cabin, a driver and a passenger in the front.
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