All Risk Shield came to us with a clear brief: build a simple, lightweight firefighting truck that could be deployed and stationed at private residences during high-risk fire events in the Southern California mountains. ARS has been doing private wildfire protection since 2013 — hardening homes, applying fire retardant, and posting crews at high-value properties before and during fires across the state. They run a fleet of around 18 trucks throughout California, and this Silverado is a prototype rig. If it works the way they want it to, there are more on the way.

The build is centered on a Summit Expedition Trucks tray with a fully integrated QTAC skid pump and 300-gallon tank. We worked with the ARS team to package the pump, hose, and reel system into a tray that still functions as a usable storage platform — full-opening upper side boxes for gear, a 7-foot pull-out drawer below the deck, toolboxes front and rear of the tires, and a custom MOLLE cargo rack mounted above the QTAC.

Inside one of the upper boxes lives a REDARC auxiliary power system — Alpha150 lithium, BCDC Alpha 50 DC-DC charger, 2000W pure sine inverter — wired to power everything we added: work lights, USBs, the strobe package, and the QTAC pump itself. The system is set up so the truck can sit at a property for days without pulling from the starting battery, with solar input pre-wired for a future panel install. A set of Air Lift LoadLifter 5000 airbags went under the rear to hold the pump weight without giving up ride quality.

Lighting is utilitarian and deliberate — a Baja Designs Squadron Sport flush-mounted at 45° on the rear for scene work, a second Squadron tucked inside one of the storage boxes as a dedicated cargo light, Kingpin F-Series 40" red/white lights pivoting on each upper box door, and a 12" Kingpin on the headache rack to light up the cargo rack above the pump. The strobe package — front grille, sides, and rear of the tray — runs off a cab-mounted controller. A purpose-built fire response rig, built to do a specific job and live outside while doing it.