Most dealerships sell WATERAX®. We run with them. Same gear, same generation, same phone numbers in our directory.
The pump line goes back to 1929. WAJAX out of Quebec built the first one. By 1958 it was the MARK-1 — first centrifugal in the line, designed with McGill University engineers, four-stage, 58 pounds. WATERAX® took the platform over in 2014. Same lineage, same engineering DNA, ninety-five years of pumps on fire lines.
Heiman's been carrying it since the early 90s. Three decades of putting WATERAX® pumps on Heiman-built apparatus. Three decades of feedback going the other way — what works on a real fire line, what doesn't survive a hard season. That kind of history doesn't show up on a brochure. It shows up when a chief calls at 11pm with a pump that won't prime, and the person who answers has rebuilt that exact model a hundred times.
It shows up when WATERAX® releases a new platform and we've already been running prototypes for six months — because we're the dealer they trust to put gear in the hands of departments that beat the hell out of it.
Ward Burton — the 2002 Daytona 500 winner — runs one of the most respected wildlife conservation foundations in the country. Prescribed burns, habitat preservation, fire prevention work where the work actually happens. His foundation needed equipment that could survive a fire line season after season. The answer was WATERAX®.
WATERAX® needed dealers who'd put that equipment in front of the people doing real wildland work. The answer was Heiman. The three-way collab puts the same pumps on Ward Burton's prescribed burn rigs, on the brush trucks we ship to wildland teams, and on apparatus we've been building in Sioux Falls for nearly eighty years.
It's not a sticker on a pump. It's a working program with three companies that all understand the difference between selling fire equipment and using it.
For specifics on Ward Burton's foundation work or how the partnership turns into hardware on your apparatus — talk to Kiela, our WATERAX® Liaison.
The WATERAX® wildland line is the standard. Below is what we move most. For full specs, weight, GPM curves, and engineering documents, WATERAX® keeps that on their site — no point duplicating it. Below is the buyer's view.
The wildland workhorse. High-pressure, lightweight, the pump small departments build their initial-attack rig around. Service intervals measured in seasons, not months.
Federal-spec. CAL FIRE, BLM, USFS run them. The Watson Edition is the latest evolution of a platform that traces back to 1958 — composite base frame, modern UI, lightest pump in the lineage. If a department wants the pump that gets specified into national wildland contracts, this is it.
When a department wants a pump that's already plumbed onto a skid, ready to drop into a pickup bed or a slide-in tank — Versax. We can deliver it as a unit or built into a Heiman skid that fits your specific apparatus.
Other models — Versapro, Striker, structural pumps, accessories — available through the equipment catalog or by talking to a rep. We don't list every SKU here because the buying conversation is usually which pump fits the job, not which pump exists.
Most equipment dealers route WATERAX® questions to whoever's closest to the phone. That's not how we do it.
Kiela is the dedicated WATERAX® person at Heiman. She's in contact with the factory more than most dealer principals are. She knows the engineers, the production calendar, the parts pipeline, and which pump is the right answer for which truck. When you call about a WATERAX® question — pricing, availability, service, spec'ing one into a build, the Ward Burton program — she's the one who picks up.
It's the kind of single-point-of-accountability you'd expect from the manufacturer themselves. We just put it in our shop.
BB-4 and MARK-3 parts on the shelf in Sioux Falls. Pumps in inventory ready to ship or build into apparatus. When a department needs one for fire season, we don't quote a 12-week lead time — we pick it off a rack.
Certified WATERAX® repair in our shop. Factory-trained tech. Bench testing on every rebuild. A WATERAX® pump that comes in our door doesn't get sent to Quebec — it gets serviced here, with factory parts, to factory specs, in days not weeks.
When Heiman builds a brush truck, slide-in, or wildland-spec pumper, the pump is usually a WATERAX®. We don't bolt them on — we engineer them in. The plumbing, the mounting, the controls, the way it integrates with the rest of the rig.
Departments that depend on these pumps for fire season call us first because the math works out: certified repair + parts on hand + bench testing = pumps back before the next call. We don't outsource WATERAX® service to a regional center. It happens here, by people whose name is on the building.
For most WATERAX® purchases — especially if it's going on a build, or you want service-included pricing, or you're not sure which pump is right for your apparatus — talk to a person. For accessories, parts, and direct orders, the catalog is up.
