The Los Banos Fire Department has added another vehicle to its fleet in an effort to more efficiently fight small vegetation blazes and minimize damage to larger, more expensive, fire engines.
“It’s light weight and can get into really tight spaces, like along the Rail Trail,” said Fire Chief Paul Tualla. “In years past we damaged our equipment trying to fight those fires.”
The new vehicle is a Brush 61 fire truck custom designed to fit the needs of the Los Banos department. The truck, which was unveiled outside of City Hall before a city council meeting last month, cost $200,000. It is far below the $1 million or more price tag of a full-fledged fire engine.
Tualla said there hasn’t been an overwhelming need to utilize a vehicle like the Brush 61inside the main area of the city, but there are places on the outskirts of Los Banos where it can be quite useful fighting grass and other vegetation fires.
“When I got here we didn’t have anything close to this,” Tualla said of the truck.
The Brush 61 is about half the size of the department’s fire engines. It is about two weeks from being put in service. Tualla said the multiband radio still needs to be installed and some equipment like custom saws are yet to arrive.
Tualla said most of his firefighters already know how to drive the truck, but a week of training will occur so they can get used to operating and maneuvering equipment on the vehicle.
The Brush 61 can hold four to five firefighters and will be located at Fire Station No. 1, Tualla said. He said when the vehicle is sent out to provide mutual aid around the state, California mandates that at least three firefighters are part of the crew.
Tualla said the fire department will upgrade its other vehicles in the near future.
“Our fire engine fleet is starting to age,” he said.
