Government stops sending surplus federal vehicles, stock to rural fire departments

Trucks, tankers and other unused federal vehicles are a critical aid to rural fire departments throughout the country, but the supply of surplus rolling stock now appears to have dried up. The federal government has ended a program that provides millions of dollars worth of equipment to thousands of rural fire departments, including nearly 800 in Oklahoma, said George Geissler, state director of forestry services. The U.S. Department of Defense ended the program when it recently decided to enforce a 25-year-old agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, Geissler said. Jennifer Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said her agency received informal notice that the Defense Department was upholding the agreement after it was determined that engines in its vehicles did not meet EPA standards. The Forest Service acts as an intermediary between the federal agencies and about 48 states that use the surplus equipment program.  One of the surplus program’s biggest benefits is that it provides vehicles that would normally cost a small fire department $150,000 to $200,000. Instead departments only have to equip the vehicle, at a cost of $30,000 to $40,000...more

If you're an entity who protects folks lives and property, the gov't will cut you off.  If you're an entity that raids homes and confiscates property, the gov't will send you armored SWAT vehicles, drones and a whole arsenal of weapons and ammo.