Montecito Fire Adds Smaller, Agile Engine to Its Response Capabilities

September 3, 2014. Montecito Fire Protection District has recently taken delivery of a Type 6 brush engine. The new apparatus was built by Pierce Manufacturing utilizing a Ford F-450 four-wheel drive heavy-duty truck chassis.

The Type 6 engine is a small agile engine designed specifically to provide quick attack on vegetation fires. A typical Type 6 engine must have at least a 150 gallon tank that can pump 30 gallons per minute. Montecito's new Type 6 engine has the capacity to hold up to 250 gallons of water which can be pumped at over 120 gallons per minute. It has the additional ability to utilize fire fighting foam to make every drop of water more effective.

The new Type 6 engine will be part of Montecito Fire District's initial response to all vegetation fires in Montecito. During extreme weather events the engine will be staffed with extra duty firefighters and utilized to provide additional patrol in the foothills of Montecito. This will supplement initial response resources in the event of a fire occurring during high fire danger weather.

This new engine does not replace any of the District's current apparatus and was added to the District's fleet to provide increased vegetation fire response capabilities in the urban interface and difficult access areas of Montecito.