thistlemagnate
Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2008
- Messages
- 25
We're an hour from the nearest state forestry pumper truck, which serves as our fire protection. I've got everything around the house well cleaned out within 100 yards. As fire season comes on I whack the weeds and grass back with a brush hog. Flammables (gasoline) go out into the middle of the field, not near the house. Disc the perimeter if a fire approaches. House itself is reasonably fireproof, with no wooden decks and stucco exterior walls and a metal roof. Fire would have to get up into the eaves before it took off. More likely is an accident with the wood stove when we have 3 ft of snow on the ground.
We're very remote, land is as much vertical as it is horizontal, lots of rocks and ponderosa pine and brush. Somebody on foot with a shovel, wet gunny sack, and 5 gallon bladder bag would in many cases be more effective than some humongous double axle trailer with 500+ gallons of water being pulled by a shiny new $50k pickup. If it's a brush fire and not much wind, the gunny sack may be enough. If the trees are crowning out, you will need a D8 and multiple aircraft doing retardant drops. You can always imagine wanting more water, an appropriate size depends on the terrain and ground cover and towing vehicle and budget.
For my firewagon, I'm thinking a single 275 gallon IBC tank. Also on the firewagon: a Honda WX10 pump, a couple hundred feet of 3/4" garden hose and nozzle, an appropriate suction hose, gunny sacks, bucket, shovel, polaski, saw, 2 meter amateur radio, cb radio. Weight of the water is 275*8.34 = 2294 lbs, all the rest (except the trailer itself) would add less than 10% to that.
The trailer could be my small 4x8 with a single 3000 lb axle, more likely the bed of my 25 yr old 4wd F250-HD pickup. Have a reservoir uphill (perhaps multiple IBC tanks) to quickly fill the tank on the firewagon. Or just use the Honda pump from a pond, would take 10 minutes at the WX10's rate of 30 gallons/minute. When fire threatens, tank on the wagon might remain full for weeks.
That trailer you are looking at could be fine, depends on how the wheels are attached, $200 seems a very good price. Before spending days making it right, load up 1.5x the weight you plan on having. (I've seen 6000 lbs on a 3000 lb axle). Check how badly the wheels bow out or flatten. Then hook it up and drive around in the worst of your local terrain as if you have a hot brush fire chasing you. If it survives, go for it.
Another option somewhere between a single axle and the M200 trailer would be a small beat up double axle horse trailer. These can be quite cheap, just cut the top off. Make sure it has working trailer brakes if your towing vehicle can't safely stop all that weight on a slope.
We're very remote, land is as much vertical as it is horizontal, lots of rocks and ponderosa pine and brush. Somebody on foot with a shovel, wet gunny sack, and 5 gallon bladder bag would in many cases be more effective than some humongous double axle trailer with 500+ gallons of water being pulled by a shiny new $50k pickup. If it's a brush fire and not much wind, the gunny sack may be enough. If the trees are crowning out, you will need a D8 and multiple aircraft doing retardant drops. You can always imagine wanting more water, an appropriate size depends on the terrain and ground cover and towing vehicle and budget.
For my firewagon, I'm thinking a single 275 gallon IBC tank. Also on the firewagon: a Honda WX10 pump, a couple hundred feet of 3/4" garden hose and nozzle, an appropriate suction hose, gunny sacks, bucket, shovel, polaski, saw, 2 meter amateur radio, cb radio. Weight of the water is 275*8.34 = 2294 lbs, all the rest (except the trailer itself) would add less than 10% to that.
The trailer could be my small 4x8 with a single 3000 lb axle, more likely the bed of my 25 yr old 4wd F250-HD pickup. Have a reservoir uphill (perhaps multiple IBC tanks) to quickly fill the tank on the firewagon. Or just use the Honda pump from a pond, would take 10 minutes at the WX10's rate of 30 gallons/minute. When fire threatens, tank on the wagon might remain full for weeks.
That trailer you are looking at could be fine, depends on how the wheels are attached, $200 seems a very good price. Before spending days making it right, load up 1.5x the weight you plan on having. (I've seen 6000 lbs on a 3000 lb axle). Check how badly the wheels bow out or flatten. Then hook it up and drive around in the worst of your local terrain as if you have a hot brush fire chasing you. If it survives, go for it.
Another option somewhere between a single axle and the M200 trailer would be a small beat up double axle horse trailer. These can be quite cheap, just cut the top off. Make sure it has working trailer brakes if your towing vehicle can't safely stop all that weight on a slope.
