Built in conjunction with Filson, the Wildland Fire Rig imagines a modern-day Ford Bronco for the United States Forest Service. Based on a four-door Bronco Badlands with the off-road-oriented Sasquatch package, the Wildland Fire Rig concept treads, ahem, lightly on knobby 35-inch tires and gets a coat of Forest Service-friendly green paint, a 50-gallon water tank mounted aft of the driver and front-passenger seats, a Ford Performance steel bumper with a Warn winch, a custom roof rack with LED light bars, and all the tools a Forest Service member could ask for when fighting a fire. Well, a relatively tame one, anyway.
Filson, meanwhile, supplies the fabrics lining the concept’s cabin. Otter Green duck canvas finds a home on the door panels, and armrests. The same material also makes its way to the seats, where it serves as trim to the chairs’ quilted black leather upholstery. A CB radio and Otter Green interior grab handles and center-console pieces complete the décor changes inside.
While the Wildland Fire Rig is a concept, it’s sure to inspire the two Broncos that Ford says it’s donating to the Forest Service, both of which will pack an array of firefighting gear. We also anticipate the two Broncos will wear a coat of the Forest Service’s famous green hue. That said, we wouldn’t bank on those SUVs’ cabins sporting Filson fabrics or massive water tanks. Then again, Ford and Filson could prove us wrong and give the Forest Service two extra bitchin’ Broncos, albeit ones without the rear window treatment of this concept, which is custom.
Regardless, we’d just like to see the Wildland Fire Rig’s Forest Service-inspired paint find its way to the 2021 Ford Bronco’s color palette. Heck, we think Ford should do the Forest Service a solid and offer it as an extra-cost option and donate some of the proceeds to the government agency that manages the country’s protected natural lands. That’d be a real win-win.
