A new fire engine for Pawlet, by Pawlet!
Attack 543 is the newest addition to our apparatus fleet, entering service in October of 2025. “Attack” is short for “Initial Attack.” An Initial Attack truck is a type of small fire engine that carries a pump and water, but much less than a full-sized engine. This light, relatively nimble multi-purpose vehicle can go places a 40,000lb engine cannot, and is much safer to operate than a very large truck, especially on soft roads. With miles of unpaved backroads, many long tricky driveways, and many farm roads and fields, this type of fire apparatus is ideally suited to our operating environment.
Attack 543 was built on a Ford Super Duty chassis right here in Pawlet, with our firefighters as the primary contractor! This represents a tremendous cost savings to our taxpayers. The truck features a 200 gallon water tank and a 340gpm CET gasoline-powered “mid range” fire pump. “Mid-range” pumps are the Goldilocks of fire pumps, powerful enough to provide volume for a structural firefighting hoseline or to supply water for firefighting operations, but still punchy enough to generate the pressure needed for wildland operations. A class A-foam system is integrated as well. This vehicle provides us with seating for 5, giving us the crew cab our 2-door commercial-chassis pumpers lack. It offers us a very capable wildland fire protection platform, with hand tools aboard to supply an 8-person handcrew, plus 1600′ of forestry hose packed in backpacks for progressive deployments. It also has the ability to initiate or support structural firefighting operations in a scenario where a larger engine cannot make it up a driveway. 543 also introduces a 150′ electric-rewind hose reel to our operations, ideal for quick attacks on roadside fires, trash fires, and the like. It carries a full package of roadway signage, cones, and a rear-mounted LED traffic advisor, which will enable us to use this smaller vehicle instead of the pumpers for trees/wires down and other roadside calls that do not involve fire. A 10,000lb Warn winch in the Buckstop bumper (aluminum, like the body) provides for self-recovery and vehicle stabilization. A 10,000 lumen FRC scene light rounds out the package.
A543 replaced B544, our 22-year-old F450 brush truck, which continues to serve Vermonters at its new home with the Chittenden Volunteer Fire Department.