Area fire departments think about their response to grass fires
THE COLONY, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - The Colony Fire Department said when fighting wildfires, having access to brush trucks is imperative.
"The difference between a brush truck and a full-size fire engine or fire truck is the size," The Colony Fire Department Battalion Chief Garrett Rice said. "It's built on a pickup chassis and they're able to get into tighter wild land, urban interface areas where are larger fire trucks cannot access"
The Balch Springs Fire Department said on Monday, they only had one brush truck, which made fighting the wildfire difficult.
"Us only having one brush truck and every time it would stop to refuel, whatever they had extinguished is kind of picking back up momentum again," Fire Marshal Sean Davis said. "You could never get ahead of it."
He says ideally, they needed one more truck and will asking the city next week to beef up their fleet.
"Equipment wise, we're struggling with getting brush trucks," Dallas Fire Fighters Association President Jim McDade said.
McDade said Dallas Fire Rescue is also in need of additional brush trucks because most of theirs are currently out of service.
"Stuff breaks," he said. "This weather is really hard. Normally, we have four around the city, so as soon as we can get those back in service. I believe one is back in service and they're trying to get the others fixed as fast as they can."
McDade said while they wait, the department is looking into temporarily renting some from the manufacturer.
"But we do, like we did the other day, we've got mutual aid in other places," McDade said.
"Getting the right vehicles with the right people there is pretty key," Rice said.
Crews said there are so many different factors that can contribute to wildfires. The extreme drought conditions, wind and low humidity. One thing they recommend to homeowners is try and keep lawns mowed and watered.
