JEFFFERSON CITY, MO, AUG. 28, 2026 – The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Missouri Office of Administration hosted an auction of six decommissioned emergency response vehicles the department had used to respond to environmental emergencies. Held Aug. 19 in Jefferson City, local public safety agencies and organizations from across the state were invited to bid on six professionally maintained used trucks.
The auction was public; however, the department and OA encouraged Missouri public safety agencies to attend the auction. The department’s goal was to give public safety organizations the opportunity to purchase the still-valuable vehicles at good prices before listing them on the auction website GovDeals. Registered bidders were required to provide proof of public safety organization status.
The winning bidders for five of the six auctioned vehicles were: City of Branson West, Miller County, Chamois Fire Protection District and Van-Far Fire Protection District. The five vehicles sold for a total of $137,000. The sixth vehicle is currently listed on GovDeals, with the auction closing Aug. 31.
“The DNR staff went to bat for us small departments by keeping the trucks available for smaller agencies to be able to afford and not opening up the auction to the public,” said Chamois Fire Protection District Chief Sean Hackmann. “They handled the process very professionally and we appreciate their concern in keeping these kinds of resources attainable by local departments. Thank you and we will put the emergency response truck to good use!”
“Being at the auction and being able to get one of the trucks was a true blessing, I had been trying to purchase a vehicle like this for two years,” said Branson West City Administrator Steve Dalton. “We are very appreciative of how DNR made it possible to obtain one of these.”
“Every emergency response begins locally, so it’s crucial for local responders to have the vehicles and equipment they need to respond to all types of events,” said Larry Lehman, deputy director for the department’s Division of Environmental Quality. “But new first-response equipment is expensive and beyond what some small communities can afford, so we were happy to make our decommissioned trucks available through the auction. We’d also like to thank our special guest auctioneer, State Rep. Jeff Knight, who did a great job with the bidding.”
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