Excess military truck deploys on new mission with Hughes Springs VFD

Hughes Springs Volunteer Fire Department replaced a 1985 tanker with an excess military Stewart Stevenson. Upon accepting the truck, the department had to meet certain obligations within 180 days. These obligations included painting it a nonmilitary color and converting it into an emergency response vehicle able to perform an emergency response function.

The truck was made service ready by adding a 1,000-gallon water tank which transformed it into a water tender that can keep a large quantity of water at the scene of a fire when water is urgently needed.

“This new conversion will be our first out tender and can draft water from a stream or pool and also fill a dump tank for a continuous water supply during a fire event,” said Hughes Springs VFD Fire Chief Jay Cates.

The truck will be dual purpose.

“The main purpose of this truck will be as a water tender but it sits much higher than our other trucks so it could be used in high water rescue,” said Cates.

Hughes Springs Volunteer Fire Department was established in 1937 and continues to serve their local community as well as mutual aid in Cass County.

“Our department appreciates the City of Hughes Spring and Texas A&M Forest Service for their part in making the completion of this truck possible and helping us to reach our goal to better serve our community and surrounding area,” said Cates. “It is a critical piece of firefighting equipment.”

Texas A&M Forest Service is committed to protecting lives, property, and natural resources through various fire department assistance programs. The Department of Defense Firefighter Property Program launched in Texas in 2005, is one such program and has released over 800 retired military trucks to volunteer fire departments across the state. The agency transports the vehicle from a military installation, performs necessary repairs and delivers it to the volunteer fire department at no cost to them. The Texas A&M Forest Service excess military equipment program is sponsored by the USDA Forest Service which also oversees the national program. For more information on programs offered by Texas A&M Forest Service, please visit http://texasfd.com

For more information on programs offered by Texas A&M Forest Service, please visit http://texasfd.com.