The Iowa Colony Volunteer Fire Department recently took delivery of a 2020 Ford F-350 extended cab four-wheel drive brush truck through funding from Brazoria County Emergency Services District No. 3 (BCESD 3).  The new brush truck, Brush 1, replaces a 2009 flat-bed brush truck that has been placed in service as Reserve Brush Truck 1 (RBT-1) with BCESD 3.

“Brazoria County Emergency Services District No. 3 is proud to have been able to deliver a new brush truck to Iowa Colony Fire Department and we are honored to continue to partner with Iowa Colony in the protection of the lives and property of Iowa Colony residents,” said Darrell Valusek, President of Brazoria County Emergency Services District No. 3.

Brush 1 is Iowa Colony Fire Department’s primary response vehicle to grass and trash fires with a capacity to carry five firefighters.  Brush 1 has a water tank capacity of 225 gallons and a Class A foam tank capacity of 5 gallons.  The vehicle’s water pump has a capacity of pumping 200 gallons per minute.  The hose equipment on Brush 1 includes 100’ of flat lay forestry hose, 50’ of 1” hose on a fire hose reel with electric rewind, two 6’ 1” whip lines with a flow capacity of 10 to 40 gallons per minute each, and two front bumper-mounted ground sweep nozzles with a flow capacity of five to 15 gallons per minute.  Brush 1 also has electric wench mounts on the front and rear.

“Iowa Colony Fire Department is excited to put our new brush truck into service and we are thankful to BCESD 3 for providing the equipment to help us help our community,” said Steve Bynum, Fire Chief of Iowa Colony Fire Department.



Brush 1 was manufactured by Southern Fire Apparatus.  Brush 1 will be part of BCESD 3's comprehensive district apparatus plan which will result in significant savings to the district over the long term through the use of a modular build out and reuse of components.  The plan will include a process of remounting existing components such as “slip-in” units and flat-bed units onto new chassis which will reduce the costs of purchasing new brush trucks in the future.