For the first time in three decades, a group of Marines have a modernized truck that will serve as the main firefighting and crash response vehicle.
The P-19R ARFF, which will be used by the Marine Air Ground Task Force, was first fielded in June 2017, but now it’s ready for prime time.
The new rig can accelerate from zero to 50 mph in under 25 seconds -- an improvement from the corps’ Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement that takes over 30 seconds to reach 50 mph.
Inside, the P-19R “ has more bells and whistles than the older [fire trucks] do,” said Cpl. Dominic Wirthlin, ARFF specialist with Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton Headquarters & Headquarters Squadron in California. “The command zone tells us if anything’s wrong with the vehicle that can cause an issue so we can fix it before something breaks.”
The corps expects fielding of all 164 vehicles to be done by February next year.