This year, the Bureau of Land Management donated a fire engine to a third rural volunteer fire department.
A wildland fire engine has been given to the Fort Bidwell Volunteer Fire Department, a small Modoc County department that often partners with the BLM and other agencies to aid in wildfire response. Fort Bidwell Fire Chief Mark Royer said, “This donation will greatly improve our service to the community since it will be Fort Bidwell’s primary initial attack fire engine.”
The engine is a four-wheel drive pumper capable of handling the county’s rugged terrain and has room for a five-person crew. It has a 500-gallon water tank and can spray water or firefighting foam while moving, an important feature when fighting fast-moving rangeland fires.
This engine and the two prior engines donated to the Milford and Standish-Litchfeild Volunteer Fire Departments are made available through BLM’s Rural Fire Readiness Program, which provides equipment to qualifying fire departments that work alongside the BLM and assist with fire response on public lands.
