Some great ideas in the posts about the SPS for the wildfires. I've seen the Super Pumper several times at the Great Lakes SPAAMFAA musters - it's really too much for the back roads. BUT what about a "SuperTanker" concept with 4,000 gals. of water and a large monitor with a 1000 gpm pump. I saw one of these years ago in Corona, AZ out side Tucson and they claimed it really worked well. So what's your comments on the SuperTanker concept ?

Location: Michigan

Not a good idea unless you can supress a small fire in one place in a short period of time. 4000 gallons of water out of a 1000 gpm monitor is how many minutes worth?? Getting that kind of apparatus up mountainous terrain quickly would be next to impossible.
There are just too many variables to put all your marbles into one piece of equipment. Remember the terrain, weather, surface conditions, relative humidity, wind direction all contribute to how you decide what resources you deploy and where you deploy them.
California wildfires are like nothing else in the US.

I'm with Chariots on this....as soon as you get this type of equipment off big roads and onto forestry trails they become very cumbersome and someone is going to get hurt...mainly by the situation of coming back empty and being caught in a change of conditions with no water on board or not enough to protect yourself and your equipment. I have fought these things for 40yrs (I went out on my first truck at age 10 with my dad, I steered the thing while I looked through the steering wheel spokes...wasn't strong enough to push the clutch, everyone pitched in, you had to through necessity)..you fight wildfires(we call them bushfires here in Australia) with brains and effective and efficient use of brains, personnel and equipment. Throwing large equipment at these fires is a precursor to trouble and you need your people using their heads and not relying on tons of equipment as it usually tends to let you down when you need it most ...even the best equipment has its' pitfalls..eg coming back empty and being caught in a flashfire etc.

Here is southeastern Massachusetts we use what we call brushbreakers. They are all wheel drive, sometimes built on ex-military chassis and sometimes on commercial 4x4 chassis. They have pump and roll capabilities and carry up to 1000 gallons of water. They are built was a cage like network of steel bars around the sides and front to protect them from trees and brush. In our area we have large stands of pitch pine and scrub oak. This vegetation grows in droughty soils and in the spring of the year can be highly volatile before leaves come out.
The pine of course is a conifer and keeps it foliage yearround. It has a high resin content and next to the chaparrel of California is about the most explosive type of natural cover there is.
Brushbreakers are intended to go directly into these wooded areas and get at the seat of the fire very quickly. A crew of 4-5 generally operates it. A driver, spotter out in front, two firefighters with hand lines in the body behind the cab and sometimes one additional crew member to be a spotter. His job is to warn the other two firefighters of overhead branches and such as they attack the fire.
Brushbreakers work as a team, following the lead truck around the fire. The first one knocks the bulk of the fire down, the next in line catches places the first one missed and so on until the entire perimeter is out. Then hot spots are doused. Our area and the pine barrens of New Jersey are the only places in the US that I know of that use this type of apparatus. Jersey guys call theirs "stumpjumpers" and they are built slightly different but the idea is about the same.
If you want to see many examples brushbreakers type apparatus go to CapeCodFD.com. Check out the brushbreakers section of the site. Plenty to see what I am talking about.

Well, if the road was marginally passable, maybe a rig that would hold 18,000 gallons, use a snozzle to place the water a good distance from the unit, and be equiped with a large capacity bumper pump to refil its tanks from steams would be every firefighter's dream.



PhotoBucket link:
http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/CFDBASHER/FDFF%20IHC%20DUAL-QUAD%20LONG%20FRAME/

But if the roads were poor, as they usually are when you need them the most. I would recommend something like this.



But it will take something like this to get it there. Or at least close enough to do any good.

Okay, lets compromise.



Photobucket link:
http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/CFDBASHER/FDFF%20FERRARA%20OFF-ROAD%20PUMPER/