The Temple Fire Department had been given a wildland fire vehicle by the New Hampshire Forest Protection Bureau, at no cost to the department or the town.
Fire Chief George Clark said that this is an exciting development for the department, and one that he has been aiming toward for a while now.
Clark said that a few years ago, he requested wildland trucks from the state, but was told that there weren’t any at the time. Then, a couple of months ago, he was informed that the state had acquired surplus wildland fire vehicles, and wanted to know if he and the department were still interested.
“And I was like, ‘Yes, please,’ ” Clark said.
The NH Forest Protection Bureau got the six surplus vehicles from the Federal Excess Personal Property Program, in the largest such acquisition by the Bureau to date. This program makes available formerly Department of Defense-owned property to state foresters. All of the vehicles are being loaned to local fire departments.
Temple is receiving a 2.5-ton Stewart-Stevenson vehicle that can be retrofitted to hold 500-gallon tanks of water – local fire department vehicles are typically limited to 100 or 250 gallons.
“Being able to facilitate getting these vehicles to New Hampshire and then to loan them to communities that can use their extra capacity will go a long way toward helping reduce potential wildfire damage in our state,” said NH Forest Protection Bureau Chief Steven Sherman.
From 2016-2020, the state experienced an average of 119 wildfires, affecting 276 acres on annual basis.
The Temple Fire Department currently has a brush truck, Clark said, that is simply not helpful for what the department needs it for in terms of combating forest fires.
“It just is not designed to go in the woods,” Clark said. He added that in the two major fires that the department fought with this equipment, the truck ended up receiving $10,000 worth of damage.
This caused the department to be hesitant about using it when necessary, which Clark didn’t want. With the new one, which Clark said is “definitely” made for going in the woods, that consideration won’t be necessary.
The new vehicle has already undergone its transformation to fit in visually with the Fire Department’s equipment, with all of the work done in-house – Capt. Jay Contois did the painting, Clark said.
“I hope we don’t have a lot of forest fires,” Clark said, but now, they will be better equipped just in case. Until then, he said, the department will be training with the vehicle.