2 U.S. Firetrucks Ticketed, Forced to Dump Some of Their Water

Two federal firetrucks carrying water to fight the huge wildfires in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley were ticketed in Idaho for weight violations and forced to dump part of their load before being allowed to continue.

The trucks, both with federal license plates and marked as Bureau of Land Management vehicles, were held for about an hour in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, while officers at the weigh station discussed the issue with their supervisor, said driver Keith Walton of Salem, Ore.

The trucks, which are limited to 34,000 pounds at the rear axles, weighed in at about 36,000 and 38,000 pounds.

“The supervisor said ‘No exceptions, write them citations,’ ” Walton told the Helena Independent Record.

Walton said the officers also insisted that enough water be dumped from the vehicles to bring them within commercial weight limits. They were half-empty when allowed to leave the weigh station, Walton said.

The water is mixed to produce a compressed-air foam that is sprayed onto fires. Considering the conditions they were driving past Monday, half-full tanks weren’t full enough, Walton said.

“We like to travel with enough water to do some serious damage to any fire we run across,” Walton said. “An empty firetruck doesn’t do anyone much good.”

He said the trucks extinguished a fire they came across in Oregon while en route to Montana.