APPARATUS DELIVERIES
Photo by Jeff Johnson
The Douglas County (Ore.) Fire District No. 2 uses its two new Pierce Arrow pumpers as first-out units on all calls except brush fires.
The units each have a 1,250-gpm midship pump and a 750-gallon booster tank. The department’s staffing requires all personnel to don full protective gear at operations, so there’s a cab-mounted SCBA device to save time at the scene. There’s also belted seating for five firefighters. Three separate illumination systems—a Cyclops-type light, a figure-eight light, and a low-mounted w’hite light —are installed on each unit.
“We see alot of singleand multiple-family home fires here — mostly residential,” says Lieutenant Jeff Johnson. “These pumpers will fill our first-alarm needs.”
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Photo by John M. Malecky
The East End Volunteer (Pa.) Fire Department, which protects three rural townships without hydrant systems, recently replaced an older unit with one with a larger tank.
The pumper/tanker, from 3-D Fire Apparatus, has a Hale QSMG 1,500-gpm, single-stage pump and carries 1,000 gallons of w’ater. The department chose a top-mounted pump instrument set up to give the pump operator maximum vision of operations. An Akron Apollo deck gun is mounted atop the body and is fed through a 3inch pipe through the pump.
In addition to the three townships, the department protects the small town of Mercer, which has hydrants. The area’s rural character is unlikely to be altered soon by development, says Captain Jack Flickinger, so the department also has a 2,000-gallon pumper/tanker and a 2,300 gallon tanker. In the springtime, the department responds to about 30 brush fire calls during a two-week period, he says.
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Photo by Mike Bakunis
The Wheeling (W. Va.) Fire Department needed a new pumper right away because of growing problems with an older unit, so it ended up with a demonstration model.
The department had two units on order, but also advertised for a pumper that could be delivered right away, says Chief Cliff Sligar. The result was this Sutphen unit, which the department received in late 1986.
The unit has a PemFab cab, which seats five firefighters, and is powered by a Detroit Diesel model 8V717A engine with an Allison HT 740 automatic transmission. It has a 1,750-gpm Hale pump, with a 4-inch discharge on the right-hand side and a butterfly valve adapting a 6-inch intake on each side. The unit carries 500 feet of 4inch hose and 2,000 feet of 2 1/2-inch hose. The pump directly feeds an 800-gpm Elkhart Stinger heavy stream appliance through a 3-inch pipe.
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Photo by Paul Barrett
Squad 2 of the Chicago Fire Department is using a more maneuverable apparatus, equipped with a 55-foot articulating boom, to get through congested areas in the city.
“There are congested parts of the city, especially in Squad 2’s district—older, narrow streets and blocks upon blocks of apartments. People park anywhere they feel like it,” says Lieutenant Jack Conners.”That’s why we needed a more manueverable unit.”
The unit, built by Emergency One, has 15 tool compartments filled to capacity. An Onan 3.5 kilowatt gas generator is carried, along with rescue tools, haz-mat equipment, a life raft, and wet suits. There are certified divers on each shift. The Snorkel boom has an outrigger spread of 15 feet. A 4-inch intake at the front and the rear of the apparatus feeds the platform; a 4-inch pipe on the boom feeds an Akron monitor with tips ranging from 1 3/8-inch to two inches in diameter.
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When an alarm sounds during the day, most of the Wakarusa (Ind.) Volunteer Fire Department is able to respond.
“The businesses in our town are pretty good about letting us respond to calls during the day,” says Lieutenant Kenn Miller. “Usually we can get 15 to 17 people out.”
Because of the high reponse and the lack of room on engines to carry equipment, Miller says, the department decided to purchase a rescue van. The Utilimaster Corp. walk-in unit has bunk lockers, and stores 8 air packs on the wall. It carries firefighting and vehicle rescue equipment, including air rescue bags and ram tools. The cargo area is fully insulated and features auxiliary cargo heat. Lighted exterior compartments have aluminum roll-up doors.
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The South Holland (Ill.) Fire Department doesn’t have many tall buildings, but it does need an aerial apparatus to operate at large factories and warehouses.
The Ladder Towers, Inc. truck the department received in March 1987 has a 110-foot steel ladder with a 4-inch water main leading from the platform; there’s an Akron Gemini remote control monitor at the tip.
The unit has a 1,500-gpm, single-stage pump; a 200-gallon water tank; and carries 675 feet of 5-inch hose. It’s powered by a Detroit Diesel 8V92-JWAC engine and has an Allison HT 740 automatic transmission with a Cincinnati cab.
It wasn’t cost effective to refurbish a deteriorating older unit, so the department opted to replace it, says firefighter/EMT Ronald Kalkowski. The combination department has about 50 members operating from two stations and protects a city of about 25,000 population.
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