BATTLE CREEK, Mich. –
Wildfires are in the news and seemingly omnipresent, with more than 61,000 fires burning 8.8 million acres in the U.S. in 2024.
A free repository of firefighting apparatus blueprints developed by Michigan’s Forest Fire Experiment Station includes instructions for the repurposing of former military equipment released by the Defense Logistics Agency.
The agency has long applied Defense Department purchasing power to support whole-of-government national security considerations like wildfire response. In addition to DLA procurement of essentials like hoses, batteries, and ready-to-eat meals for federal firefighting caches, DLA Disposition Services reverse logisticians provide used and surplus military equipment and vehicles that for decades have helped support volunteer fire stations and sustain rural response personnel around the country through the Firefighter Property Program, or FPP, and the older Federal Excess Personal Property, or FEPP, program that began in the 1950s.
The U.S. Forest Service estimates DOD equipment originally valued at close to $3 billion has flowed from the services through DLA to firefighters over time via FPP and FEPP. The items they receive were purchased for warfighting applications, but thanks to a partnership between the state of Michigan and the National Association of State Foresters, engineers at the Forest Fire Experiment Station in Roscommon, or REC, have developed and shared dozens of plans for firefighting apparatus conversions and still keep a watchful eye on equipment they hope to see transferred through the USFS from DLA in the future.
One multi-use example of wildfire reutilization is the M915A2 tactical truck, and its predecessors, which have been a mainstay of Army transport for decades. Engineers at the REC and firefighters across the country have converted hundreds – if not thousands - of the haulers to serve non-warfighting purposes, saying the conversions involve “super simple” changes that “meet a lot of needs” for firefighters.
“Things go in, things go out,” said Matt Feldpausch, a Michigan official who helps funnel used items to the state’s network of volunteer firefighting stations. “There’s always a rotation – that’s what’s important.”
Feldpausch said Michigan has received about $40 million in FPP equipment and currently has more than 4400 items in its inventory. He said the “915s” get picked up by volunteer stations in his state and nationwide who “save a huge amount of money” by strapping 3,500-gallon tanks to them. With new paint, floodlights, and some ingenuity, these vehicles have proven that they can continue serving taxpayers long after their military use has ended.
Dave Stockoski has served as the REC’s lead for the past five years. He said the center has created and published about 80 engineering projects during its run and five “big projects” since he’s been a part of it. His team conducts 3D modeling and printing, has a computer numerical control mill, and advertises its capacity to help its partners across the nation to figure out how to make military surplus and other material work for their fire response needs.
The center’s Project 56 is titled “Evaluating the Hummer and HMMVW-series chassis for wildland engine use.” In it, there’s guidance on cab, bumper, grill guard, electric system, and tank design that can help turn a repurposed military Humvee into a go-anywhere first response vehicle. Project 72 is the conversion of the Oshkosh R11 Fuel Tanker, which the center determined could be converted to safely transport 4,600 gallons of water and costed less than $6,000 in new equipment when the plans were first developed in 2016. All the center's projects are available online or at request.
Firefighting applications of the military’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, or FMTVs, are a current agenda item. The REC team is considering how to best convert the transport platform to equip military excess requisitions with 900-gallon tanks “at the lowest possible cost” for volunteer departments. The Marine Corps has used an FMTV variant called the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement, or MTVR, and the center’s staff is looking at applications for those, as well.
Engineers at the REC said they recently took a special request from Florida, essentially asking “how big of a water tanker can you make?” To find out, the team converted a former military airport refueling truck received from DLA into a 6500-gallon water tanker that came with its own pumping system. Leaders at REC said Florida “seemed to really like it and it worked out well for them.”
Center leaders said FPP remains an invaluable resource for wildfire response and prevention, and they are ready to consider any potential military excess vehicle conversion projects the states send their way. For its part, DLA Disposition Services personnel continue working each day to ensure taxpayer dollars and the equipment they procure provide benefit for as long as possible. Transfer of military equipment to federal entities like the Forest Service happens only if military units who are screening DLA's used and surplus inventory do not request the items first. After the reutilization and transfer periods end, items are offered for donation and, eventually, for auction.
Recent annual statistics from DLA Disposition Services’ Reutilization, Transfer and Donation office show that FPP recipients received equipment originally valued at $98 million in fiscal 2022, $61 million in 2023, and just under $60 million in 2024. The agency considers FFP as a “special program,” meaning firefighters can view and request used and excess items that appear in DLA’s surplus inventory in the first 14 days of the 42-day property screening cycle, alongside qualifying recipients like law enforcement agencies, Civil Air Patrol and DOD’s Humanitarian Assistance Program.