APPARATUS DELIVERIES
This rescue/pumper, built for the Levittown (NY) Fire Department, is manufactured by Sutphen. Body and cab are of stainless steel construction, and the tilt air-conditioned cab seats 10.
According to Fire Commissioner Timothy J. Courtney, this vehicle operates as a pumper and heavy rescue truck and responds to fires and rescue incidents. Department members are firefighters and emergency medical technicians. The company also operates two ambulances.
The vehicle has a 215-inch wheelbase and mounts a Hale twostage, 1,000-gpm pump with top-mount control panel and carries 500 gallons of water. It has a five-inch front intake and a three-inch discharge with five-inch Storz elbow adaptor and carries 500 feet of five-inch hose.
Other features include an electric ladder rack on the right side of the vehicle; a SuperVac telescoping light mast with six 500-watt floodlights, capable of extending up to 18 feet from the ground; a 15kw Harrison hydraulic generator; and two Hurst tools, including one mounted with an electric reel.
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The Hudson (Wl) Fire Department protects 49 square miles serving the city of Hudson, the village of North Hudson, and the townships of Hudson and Troy; total population is 15,000. Fire Chief Dean Rossing says the department wanted a vehicle from a nearby company to reduce downtime when maintenance is needed; a commercial chassis (less costly than a custom one); and an automatictransmission, to reduce driver distraction while en route to calls. Also considered were electronically controlled valves, ease of operation, and maneuverability.
The area’s tough winters made the stainless/aluminum body and spacious “full-response cab” important factors also. The spaciousness and climate-controlled environment of the cab provide comfort and working room for the pump operator and also afford good all-around visibility while tending the top-mount pump control panel, according to the chief.
This pumper is the first one built by Custom Fire on the Kenworth Model T-600A chassis. The unit has a 230-inch wheelbase with setback axle. Seating is for six.
The vehicle has a Waterous CSUYBX single-stage, 1,500-gpm pump; it carries 800 gallons of water; and its 30-gallon foam tank is in conjunction with an Elkhart model 240-95 foam eductor pumped to a preconnected speed lay at the rear hosebed. All discharge valves are Waterous electronically controlled. Two are 3‘/2-inch outlets with four-inch Storz adaptors; 600 feet of five-inch hose is carried. (Photo by Red Novecki.)
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The township of North Bergen, New’ Jersey, acquired its three short-wheelbased pumpers from Pierce Manufacturing.
The pumpers are built on the Dash tilt cab chassis, are 27 feet, four inches in length, and have a 167-inch w’heelbase. They have a 25-foot turning radius and can ascend a 25-percent grade from a zero-degree grade. The cab seats six and has 90-degree swinging rear doors. Superintendent of Maintenance Peter A. Giunchini says the pumpers must negotiate hills and make abrupt turns on narrow streets on which cars are parked on one side or both sides.
The pump is a Waterous CMUYBX two-stage, 1,500 gpm. A fourinch discharge is on the right side. Other discharges include two preconnected 1 Vi-inch attack lines in cross trays (each 200 feet in length); two 2‘/>-inch on each side and one at the rear; one three-inch piped to an Akron Apollo gun; two trash lines—including one 1½inch—in the 16-inch front bumper extension; and one 150-foot length of one-inch synthetic hose in a compartment beneath the pump panel. The three-section hosebed carries 1,000 feet of fourinch hose plus 750 feet of 2‘/>-inch and 400 feet of 1 Vi-inch hose.
The vehicle carries 750 gallons of water and has 10 compartments in the body plus two beavertail recesses for hand extinguishers. A 3.8-kw diesel portable generator and two Churchville quartz extendable floodlights also are carried. (Photo by John M. Malecky.)
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Olcott, New York, is located on the shore of Lake Ontario, 18 miles east of the Niagara River in the town of Newfane in the county of Niagara. Spokesperson Michael Confer says the community’s location necessitates that the fire company provide water-rescue service (with a 22-foot Boston Whaler) as well as fire, rescue, and ambulance services. The rescue truck, built by Marion Body Works, is used as a command post for lake rescues as well as for other fields of service.
Built on a Navistar 4600 chassis, it has a 16-foot aluminum module and seating for four; two additional seats are in the cab. The command post segment features an eight-channel scanning radio, allowing communications with the Niagara County Sheriff Marine Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard, county hospitals, and the Mercy flight medical helicopter. Also on board is a two-frequency fire radio and a cellular phone.
The truck has backup ambulance capability and is equipped with oxygen for three patients, stretchers, and other medical equipment. The vehicle has 10 exterior and five interior compartments. The interior quad bench has four Ziamatic SCBA brackets, making it possible for a crew to don air packs prior to arrival on the scene.
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The Adairsville (GA) Fire Department serves a population of from 2,500 to 3,000 within the city’s eight square miles, which is mostly residential with some medium-sized industry. The department also is responsible for three miles of Interstate 75, including one of the busiest interchanges north of Atlanta—the result of the two large truck stops there.
Fire Chief Harry Connett says available finances and staff did not allow the department to purchase a rescue truck and first-out pumper. Instead, this pumper was designed as a combination rescue/ pumper. It is backed up at a structure fire by a second-out pumper and a service truck. The close proximity of hydrants to each other (about 800 feet apart), Chief Connett explains, made it possible to reduce the tank size from a proposed 450 to 400 gallons so that the compartments could be made deeper to accommodate rescue equipment. The apparatus body has 11 tool and equipment compartments and carries 800 feet of 2‘/2-inch supply line.
Built by American Fire Apparatus, the rescue/pumper is mounted on a GMC Topkick chassis and has cab seating for three. The Hale QSG 1,000-gpm. single-stage pump has side intakes only. Two 1½inch preconnected attack lines are located in crosslays above the pump panel, and a booster reel is mounted behind the crosslay. A portable Akron 1,000-gpm, Apollo heavy-stream appliance is carried. (Photo by Jay Thomson.)
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In Iowa, the Solon Fire Department covers three and one-half townships (112 square miles) and the city of Solon, which is just nine miles north of Iowa City. Population in the city is 1,000; the townships have 4,000 residents. Much of the district surrounds Lake Macbride and the Coralville reservoir. Numerous houses have been added in the townships. Captain Tom Trump explains that the department provides fire and EMS first-responder/defibrillation service with 25 volunteers.
A committee appointed by Chief Steve Lee designed a pumper capable of transporting six firefighters to a scene and carrying as much on-board water as possible, an important consideration for the rural district. Other features incorporated by the committee included a top-mount pump control, for optimum visibility for the operator; a sizable pump; as much compartmentation as possible; adequate scene lighting (for safety); placement of the preconnects “as low as possible,” to facilitate easy pulling and reduce the possibility of foot and ankle twists when stepping down; and installation of an R.V. air-conditioner powered by the 7.5-kw Onan diesel generator on board.
The aluminum unit, built by Toyne Fire Truck Company, is mounted on a Spartan Diamond 90 chassis powered by a Cummins, 300-hp diesel engine with an Allison model MT-647 automatic transmission. Four SCBAs are mounted in the cab, with two additional and six spare cylinders mounted on the body. High compartments are on both sides; and ladders, pike poles, and hardsuction hose are stored between the hose bed and the 1,250-gallon water tank. The pump is a Hale, QSG, 1,250 gpm.
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