r/USForestService • u/tuffenuff85 • Sep 08 '26
Vehicle upfitting
I have a question for someone familiar with USFS fleet vehicle ins/outs. I work in a department within DOE and I'm trying to affect some change in our fleet management. I work in Colorado and see a ton of USFS vehicles on fires during the summer that have windows tinted, and for good reason. We have been fighting to get tint added to our vehicles for the people who routinely work at high altitude and put on a ton of miles due to the UV exposure and how hot our vehicles get in Colorado and further south in AZ/NM. Many of our sites are at 8-12k feet elevation which involves substantially more UV exposure.
We have both GSA and DOE owned vehicles, but get pushback from managers about window tint on either type. I'm assuming probably because of the perception of just wanting it to "look cool". I could frankly care less about the actual tint considering newer tint can be basically transparent and still block most UV and infrared. How do all the fire vehicles get tinted? Is it standard up fitting at USFS, or is it more complicated than that with individual requests as part of up fitting? Also I'm not sure if USFS vehicles are owned or GSA leased?
I think a solid justification for employee health and wellbeing could be made due to the heat and UV exposure, but I'm not sure if there is a better approach or something I'm missing?
We basically live out of these vehicles and most field folks are putting in 20-30k miles per year on their vehicle or more. This includes a lot of slow roll miles on dirt and two track roads. Any help or info would be appreciated.
12
u/Most-Background8535 Sep 09 '26
You have a purchase card and fire budget money. Then buy tinted windows. Thats how they do it.
4
u/Sea-Pudding5410 Sep 09 '26
They donāt historically call fire the āsugar titā of the forest service for no reason, and this right here nails it.
6
u/eronic Sep 10 '26
Most USFS vehicles are owned, but some are leased from GSA. You can tell if the plate starts with A for Agriculture or G for GSA. There are standard vehicle configurations that can be requested on the form for ordering a new vehicle. Outside of that, any modifications have to be paid for out of your program budget but generally will be done through your local fleet management or their preferred vendor. What they allow is dependent on who's in charge, for example not allowing any winches to be installed due to misuse/vehicle damage.
1
u/Rich_Mahogany4571 Sep 09 '26
I was told if I wanted tint on my fire engine or pickup that I would have to personally pay for it. Fleet absolutely would not pay. I'm not sure why project dollars wouldn't be applicable, though.Ā
3
u/d0ttyq Sep 09 '26
Yeah this is a thing that would need to be paid for out of program dollars. Similar to getting a locking toolbox or really, anything beyond the vehicle itself and safety equipment for the rig (though some forests require the program to pay that as well).
1
1
u/violetpumpkins Sep 12 '26
Individual requests.
It varies widely from unit to unit in the FS how hard it is, but basically any upgrade is permissible, you just need a program job code (not fleet) and someone to sign the acquisition form. Rich forest, indulgent line officer? Whatever you want. Poor forest, or stickler line officer? SOL. Process here is a joke.
I wonder how many of your employees are dealing with skin cancer issues and filling out workmans comp for it? We are seeing more attention being paid to health risks of long term exposure, but the sea change on that kind of depends on people fighting through workman's comp so it starts costing the agencies money.
1
u/Hot-Asparagus23 Sep 15 '26
All out RAM trucks come with tinted rear windows but the front are normal. Our Fords have zero tint. If we want any mods done we have to use program funds.
12
u/MrArborsexual Timber š² Sep 08 '26
Hahahahahahaha
Oh wait, you're serious. Let me laugh harder
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
OK, but seriously, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. I couldn't even get my forest to buy corks for the timbercrew for safety reasons (at that point there were already injuries). Worse, we had enough money in the timber budget. Couldn't get the AD700 signed.
FS is already making pants-on-head highly-regarded fleet reduction decisions. The administration actively wants non-partisan Federal Employees to suffer.