Weed Farmers Are Building Tricked-Out Firefighting Rigs to Save Their Crops

When campfire threatens the heart of California’s weed- growing “ Emerald Triangle, ” original farmer Robert Steffano fires up “ The Wookie. ”

That’s not some new strain of cannabis. The Wookie is a 1990 BMY- Harsco Military M923A2 weight truck that weighs further than,000 pounds. Steffano bought the beast in 2015 for$,500 directly from the U.S. government in an transaction, and also he got to work turning it into a fire machine.

When campfire threatens the heart of California’s weed- growing “ Emerald Triangle, ” original farmer Robert Steffano fires up “ The Wookie. ”

That’s not some new strain of cannabis. The Wookie is a 1990 BMY- Harsco Military M923A2 weight truck that weighs further than,000 pounds. Steffano bought the beast in 2015 for$,500 directly from theU.S. government in an transaction, and also he got to work turning it into a fire machine.

“ I ’ve erected a number of volley truck – grounded fire equipages, and they ’re veritably effective and easy to enjoy and operate, but the most water they can carry is about 200 gallons, ” Steffano, proprietor of Villa Paradiso, a weed ranch and grange in Humboldt County, said. “ I wanted more; I wanted to make a carriage that could handle fighting fire for a while if I had to. I wanted,000 gallons of water. ”

The 59- time-old, tone- described “ hippie motorhead ” equipped the carriage with that- size tank, plus an artificial- grade fire pump he bought on eBay and a sock- wheel he set up in Missouri on Craigslist. The truck firstly outgunned out at about 55 mph, but it can now hit 70 thanks to a turbocharged machine and Steffano’s tuning. And he lately added massive off- road tires that can roll over nearly any terrain and be deflated at the touch of a button for better traction in tough road situations.
“ It sounds like a Wookie because it has these air thickets also on board and also this whole system for making the tires go over and down, ” Steffano said. “ utmost of my neighbors have quick- attack vehicles of some kind. I just called mine The Wookie because it really sounds like that — and a Wookie isn’t a bad companion to have. ”

Steffano is one of numerous colonials living in the cannabis- producing Emerald Triangle of Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties in Northern California, an area with some of the hardest- hit fire zones and some of the most dangerous terrain. It’s remote, hard to get to, and with its population of family colonials andex-hippies running fairly small weed granges then, locals say they get little help from state officers– they ’re indeed regarded as expendable, and a little crazy. So to cover their extremely precious shops, the farmers have had to take matters into their own hands. That’s meant forming their own DIY fire departments, equipped with modded, Mad Max – eliciting exchanges like the Wookie.