Dunn County Fire Departments have responded to approximately 16 brush fires since June, and local officials are hoping the donation of frac water  tankers  will give them an added resource the next time a fire breaks out.

” What we hope won’t become the big fire, yet we all think it will happen , so that right now is what every district is preparing for,” said  Ryan Hauck, West Dunn Fire Chief.

The rural areas are the hardest ones to fight for fire departments.

” We are trying to place them in areas where we don’t have fresh water locations. Our fire trucks shouldn’t have to leave a fire to go find water,” said Denise Brew, Dunn County Emergency Manager.

To assists the the rural fire departments during the drought, MBI Energy Services donated seven  20, 000 gallon tanks to Dunn County, and 18 to Stark County.

“MBI has been in business since 1979, so we work really close with alot of the people here,” said Cory Ghering, VP Fluid Management Logistics for MBI.

The frac tanker were custom built for the fire department with one fitting for the tanker to be filled up with and another fitting for the fire departments to get the water out of, so they can fight the fire in the fields during the severe drought conditions.

Southwest Water Authority is helping out too with donating water, but everyone agrees that the conditions are not getting better.

“Things have worsened quite a bit, because we haven’t had the rain. I think the wind . . . North Dakota wind is going to blow. So things have dried out immensely,” said Hauck

Dunn County and MBI officials said the tankers are just temporary solutions to help firefighters manage conditions during the drought.

Since March, McKenzie and Dunn County have been the most affected counties.