APPARATUS DELIVERIES
Departments
Chimney fires are one of the most common types of run during winter for the Shirley (Mass.) Fire Department, and previously, the department responded to those calls with ground ladders. The May 1987 delivery of an aerial ladder truck, Captain Gerard Wheeler says, will help make these operations a lot easier to perform.
In addition to the 75-foot aerial ladder, the department’s Pierce Manufacturing Inc. unit carries a 40and a 35-foot, three-section ladder; a 28-foot two-section ladder; 20-and 16-foot roof ladders, and a 10-foot folding ladder.
The unit has a Waterous 1,500-gallon, single-stage pump and a 300-gailon tank. It has five 2‘/2-inch discharges and one 4-inch discharge; aluminum hosebed grating; and two crosslays.
The department designed the aerial truck with much of the same general firefighting equipment found on its two pumpers. That way, says Wheeler, if one of the pumpers is out of service, the ladder truck can be an ample substitute.
Circle No. 99 on Reader Service Card
Photo by Dave Kinsey
The Clearwater (Fla.) Fire Department’s new aerial platform has been something of a showpiece. Because of a special feature—an enclosed, gondola-style bucket—this Sutphen Corp. unit was displayed at the 1987 International Association of Fire Chiefs Convention in St. Louis.
However, Clearwater doesn’t use the enclosure because of its warm weather. The unit’s selling point was that it has both aerial and pumping capabilities. It has a 1,500-gpm pump and can carry up to 500 gallons of water. It also has a box-section boom for extra rigidity, and dual nozzles in the bucket. The unit is 9 feet, 10 inches high and meets the new federal axle-weight laws.
In the department’s coverage area, there about 100 hotels and residential and mercantile buildings that are more than five stories tall. While this unit hasn’t responded to a high-rise fire yet, it has pumped well at single-story fires, says Deputy Chief Dave Kinsey.
Circle No. 95 on Reader Service Card
Photo by Keith Hammack
Engine 21 of the Anne Arundel County (Md.) Fire Department received the same type of pumper all companies in that department do—one with a fully enclosed cab and a lot of compartment space.
“There’s room for everybody and everything,” says Captain David Marshall.
Engine 21’s pumper, which has a 1,250-gpm Waterous singlestage pump and a 750-gallon tank, was delivered in July of last year. The American Eagle Fire Apparatus Co. pumper has a Spartan cab; a prepiped deck gun; and a 2,000-foot hose bed. It’s powered by a Detroit Diesel 8V71 engine and has an Allison HT740D transmission. The pumper has an extra rear compartment and can carry four air bottles.
The county department, which serves an area of 600 square miles, has 28 pumpers of this type.
Circle No. 96 on Reader Service Card
Photo by John Rinchich
Chemical plants; long, one-story structures that frequently house several different businesses; and trailer parks are all part of the Bridgeview (Ill.) Fire Department’s coverage.
But rather than purchase an ambulance to meet the industrial area’s medical needs, the department opted for a double-duty rescue pumper.
“We already had trained (medical] personnel on each piece,” says Chief Martin W. Dooley. “Now we have a full complement of paramedic equipment on the rescue pumper.”
The W.S. Darley Co. pumper received by the department last September was built on a Kovatch Mobile Equipment wide-body chassis. Its single-stage, midship pump is rated at 1,500 gpm. The pumper has a 750-gallon polypropylene booster tank and a prepiped deluge gun. The hydraulic ladder rack can also be used for EMS backboards; there’s a heated compartment for EMS gear.
Dooley says the department requested a 152-inch wheel base to allow for better maneuverability in the industrial area and the trailer park. And because Illinois frequently is subject to severe winter weather, pump panel areas are enclosed by a roll-up door.
The rescue pumper has met the department’s needs so well, says Dooley, “we’ve given very serious thought to a duplicate.”
Circle No. 94 on Reader Service Card
