Army Veteran Joins the Fire Line
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“We think we’ve got the only one of its kind in the world,” says Ben Follett, the manager of a weapons testing range nestled in Vermont’s Green Mountains.
“At least a dozen times each year we have to shut down our operations, gather every hand, and truck them down-range to fight nuisance grass fires,” he says. “With our M-113, that’s all part of the past.”
The Ethan Allen Firing Range is an 11,000-acre tract in north central Vermont owned by the United States Government. Since 1925 it has served as an army field artillery post, a training site for the National Guard and now, a contract-operated weapons test center.
During certain periods, when the ground is particularly dry, grass fires are an ever-present hazard. Tracer ammunition constitutes about 10 percent of the ammunition fired. Most tracers just burn out harmlessly, but occasionally one starts a fire. “We have fire breaks, of course, but brooms, shovels, rakes, and backpack tanks had been our only defense. Because of the terrain, a truck could bring people and supplies only so far. Everyone would then have to walk the rest of the way.”
Through a stroke of luck, Follett heard the Army was terminating an M-113 armored personnel carrier. The vehicle, over 15 years old, had seen some hard service and was about to become a practice target at an Army artillery range. The M-113 is a tracked vehicle able to traverse virtually any terrain. It could go right to the fire, no matter where it was.
The Ethan Allen Range requested the Army to commute the death sentence of the M-113 and divert it to its range as a fire fighting machine. The Army agreed, although the range’s request was the first known use of an M-113 as a fire apparatus.
Fire fighting equipment
A portable fire fighting module that included a 200-gallon tank, pump and booster reel, was purchased and attached to the top deck of the M-113. Next, a 375-gallon auxiliary tank was installed in the vehicle’s crew compartment. The module has an 8.5-hp electric-start engine driving a 300-gpm pump. In addition to a 200-foot, 1-inch booster line, the M-113 carries two 150-foot, 1 ½ -inch lines and suction hose for drafting from a pond or river to fight fire or refill the tanks.
Learning to drive an M-113 was no problem among range employees. Six already knew how, providing a ready pool of drivers. All range hands have been trained in the use of the fire fighting module. The Ethan Allen Fire Brigade is comprised of six men. Two are designated as drivers. The unit serves for one month and then is replaced with six new names posted on the duty roster. Two men, who are members of the Underhill Volunteer Fire Department, train the others and maintain the M-113 fire fighter.
