This Red-Hot Custom Bronco Is Ford’s Blueprint For National Park Fire Safety – SlashGear

If you attended any of the major auto shows through 2021 — not that there were many, thanks to a different major public health crisis — you may have seen the Ford Bronco and Filson Wildland Fire Rig concept, also based on a Bronco in Badlands Sasquatch configuration. This Bronco, built primarily for display, showcased the Bronco’s stock off-road capabilities, Filson’s-upscale-outdoorsy-turned-sexy aesthetic (no snark, my husband owns a gorgeous Filson jacket I can’t wait for him to decide to pass off to me because it makes my extensive collection of LL Bean gear seem like Costco’s very best Kirkland in comparison), and the National Forest Foundation’s dedication to preserving our forests, particularly at a time when we weren’t supposed to go anywhere but forests were really the safest thing we had except for the fires. And the bears. Always the bears.

When it came time to build this Bronco for real, thanks to the Bronco Wild Fund (which to date has donated more than $3.7 million to various wholesome outdoorsy causes, courtesy of a percentage donated from the sale of every Bronco) Ford knew just who to call. Enter Darley, a century-plus-old company based in Itasca, IL, and a long-time collaborator with and supplier to Ford, the Department of Defense, and various public safety organizations.

“I think you’ve heard and are seeing that wildfires are continuing to grow and have some devastating impact across the West and North America and you saw it even places in the country that haven’t really been impacted, but they’re impacted by smoke like New York with the Canadian wildfires,” said Kevin Sofen, Director of Innovation at Darley. “Really, no borders anymore, and there’s big initiatives in the NFPA [National Fire Protection Association] and you will see everyone rethink and reimagine how we are fighting wildfires.”