Edwards Fire and Emergency Services welcomes new truck with “push in” ceremony

  • Published
  • By Chief Tim Johnson
  • Fire and Emergency Services Flight, 812th Civil Engineer Squadron

812th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire & Emergency Services (FES) Flight received a new Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicle — a 2020 Oshkosh Striker UHP P-19 with 4X4 capability, recently. The truck was officially welcomed to the fleet during a “push in” ceremony on Edwards Air Force Base, California, Jan. 14.

The new fire truck, built in Wisconsin at a cost of $612,000, is replacing the 1986 Oshkosh P-19 because it has reached the end of its service life. The new vehicle will provide greater agent capacity and reach to help us gain access to extinguish fires in large frame aircraft. The fire truck is also safer for the fire fighters during response due to its chassis design.

It had been quite some time since Edwards FES has received a new ARFF vehicle. They honored this new arrival by conducting a “Push In” Ceremony. The push in ceremony is tradition from over 100 years ago when fire equipment was horse drawn and was pushed back into the station after the responses by the firefighters.

The vehicle weight and dimensions are a length of 35.5 feet, a height of 11.6 feet, a width of 10 feet and a GVWR of 62,000lbs.  The vehicle carries 1500 gallons of water, 210 gallons of class B foam, and 500lbs of dry chem.  The vehicle is equipped with an UHP system of 1400psi with a flow rate of 300GPM on the bumper turret and 21gpm on the handline. The bumper turret is also capable of discharging dry chemical at 12-17 pounds per second along with a handline at 5 pounds per second. The bumper turret also comes equipped with a forward looking infrared (FLIR) camera.