Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming is the world's oldest national park, created in 1872 in a region once described as "the place where hell bubbles up." Geothermal features such as the Old Faithful geyser, are evidence of one of the world's largest active volcanoes. Another fiery feature of Yellowstone is its sporadic severe wildfires.
Yellowstone Park Fire Department owned five Willys fire trucks, according to its website.
This composite illustration shows one of the Willys trucks as of 1988, with a more recent photo of a fire as a background. The NPS photo of the truck, taken in the Madison River Canyon, shows the vehicle and crew pumping from the river while involved in suppressing the North Fork Fire of 1988, one of the fires which destroyed over 1.2 million acres in Yellowstone that summer.
I think we now have photos of all five of the trucks. This late-1950s Willys truck lettered for the Yellowstone Park Fire Department, and the truck above which has the chrome trim of a post-1960 Willys, were possibly built by Valley Fire Truck in Michigan (see below.)
A 1960 Willys 6-226 Commando Fire Truck built by Howe has been preserved in the park's Historic Vehicles Collection (80K JPEG). It has the distinctive streamlined bodywork of Howe Willys Fire Trucks.
It has a 500 GPM Waterous Model CF-3 pump and 150 gallon tank, and the body was modified at some point to carry breathing apparatus on one side. This vehicle was last stationed at the Tower Junction area, and participated in fire suppression efforts at Grant Village during the forest fires of 1988. It was removed from service in 1996.
This NPS archival photo shows a pre-1960 Howe, lettered for the Department of the Interior. It is likely the 1957 Willys listed as Howe serial no. 10126 in the Howe Fire Apparatus Jeep Production List. The list also shows serial no. 10743, a 1960 truck, as being shipped to Yellowstone -- probably the truck in the Historic Vehicles Collection.
This 1959 truck lettered for the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, is definitely a Valley Fire Truck.
As of 2024 it belongs to Larry Vaughn and his son Bradley in Texas. Bradley says, "The truck's second assignment was Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and my father operated the truck on the Long Mesa fire there in 1989."
Bradley adds, "In October of 1990 the truck was transferred to its third assignment, with the Los Pinos Fire Protection District in Ignacio, Colorado. I was a junior fire fighter on that volunteer department. Here it's being driven on Goddard Ave in Ignacio."
"Sometime in the 1990s the pump seized and at the direction of the chief at that time, myself and some others removed the pump so it could continue in service but plans changed and it was put out to pasture. Recently a different chief was downsizing old equipment and the opportunity to purchase this truck came and my father and I jumped on it."
"Both of us have a history with this specific truck and now we have the opportunity to restore it."
They have the seized Darley Champion Model KFF pump (see the SN plate, 230K JPEG) and are working on getting it operational or replacing it.
See also a rear view (330K JPEG) and the cab interior (220K JPEG) including the cylindrical first aid kit.
As of 2004, two of the five Willys trucks were still in service, at the south and east park entrances. According to Emergency Vehicle Technician/Fire Mechanic E. Johann Anderson, a third was being refitted at the time as a light-duty rescue truck. And one truck reportedly had its pump removed and was sent to Grant-Kohrs National Historic Park in Montana where it served as a flatbed work truck.
As of 2014, vehicles operated by Yellowstone's large fire department included this go-anywhere mini-pumper equipped with Mattracks for the winter. Yellowstone's online Photo Collection includes firefighting pictures in several categories.
Thanks to Lynn Krodel, Johann Anderson and Bradley Vaughn. -- Derek Redmond \
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