APPARATUS DELIVERIES
Amarillo, Texas, is a city with a population of about 160,000. The fire department provides mutual aid to two adjacent counties.
The department operates this midi-pumper built by Southern Coach, Inc. District Chief Mike Gause, who was involved in writing the specs on the apparatus, explains that several factors were involved in the planning. First, the department needed a quickresponse vehicle for rescue calls (the apparatus carries a rescue tool). Second, the vehicle is ideal for fighting grass fires. It has a separate pump-drive engine, which enables the truck to maintain pump pressure without excessive speed. In the past, the department’s trucks would “outrun” the fire while trying to maintain enough water pressure and volume. Third, the vehicle also responds to structure fires with a full-size pumper and is equipped with all necessary tools and air packs. It carries an A-frame ladder instead of an extension. The 500-gpm pump also enables the department to cover empty districts and provide a limited initial attack on most of the structures.
The vehicle has an aluminum body mounted on a Ford F-700 chassis with cab seating for three. It has a Ford diesel engine and automatic transmission. Controls for remote start and run capabilities are in the cab. The single-stage pump is built by Darley.
The pumper has two 1 ¾-inch transverse attack lines, a midshipmounted booster reel, and a discharge for a booster line in the front platform. Tools and other equipment are stored in six compartments in the body.
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The Cole-Collister Fire Protection District protects Garden City and other unincorporated areas outside the city limits of Boise, Idaho. It operates this Yankee Interface Pumper built by Boise Mobile Equipment, Inc.
Captain Jim Peterson explains that the pumper was purchased to fill the gap between the structural and light brush apparatus. Its primary mission is first response medical and extrication with wildland interface capabilities. The wildland interface structures are mostly residential, many of which have poor access for the larger structural engines and cannot be served by the light brush units because they have too little w’ater and equipment for a structural fire. This unit accesses these difficult areas with 500 gallons of water. The compressed air foam system (CAPS) makes the water more effective for protecting structures and controlling brush fires, explains Peterson.
The unit is mounted on an International Model 4800 chassis with four-wheel drive and a four-door cab with seating for three and a cabinet for medical equipment storage. The pump is a Hale Model CBP single-stage, 250-gpm with two 2’/i-inch intakes. There are two 2‘/2-inch discharges and a three-inch pipe, which branches off to two rear-mounted Akron Apollo guns, one of which is demountable. Peterson says that even with the small pump capacity, the guns effectively can deliver the compressed air foam.
Also featured is a Sullair rotary screw, 130-cfm (at 150 psi) Hypro System 2000 foam concentrated pump with a zero to nine percent injection rate. The pumper has stationary and pump-and-roll capability for CAPS operations. Pump-and-roll is preset and put into operation by a single button in the cab or at the pump panel. Power for the water pump, air compressor, and hose reel rewind motors is provided by two load-sense, front-engine crankshaft drive hydraulic pumps. There arc two foam tanks, one with 20 gallons of Class B concentrate and the other with 15 gallons of Class A concentrate. Attack lines are two 1 ¾-inch rear preconnects and two midshipmounted reels of one-inch hose.
The unit has a 170-inch wheelbase and 75 cubic feet of cabinet space. Four quartz scene lights and a telescoping Federal Nightfighter spot/fioodlight provide lighting.
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The Smith Mountain Lake Marine Volunteer Fire Company in Virginia has two 21 -foot WAHOO fireboats in service, one of which is shown. Chief Rick Munson explains that the fire company was founded in 1974 after one of the area marinas caught fire and was completely destroyed. The fire company had had only fireboats until 1980, when a truck unit was added; another unit was added in 1985. In 1987, the two truck units split off to form separate fire companies.
Chief Munson explains that the fire company currently consists of nine boats ranging from 19 to 26 feet in length. The area of response for the 50 members is a 500-mile shoreline and a manmade lake 40 miles in length and covering 20,600 acres. The fire company shares a dual-response district with area land fire companies on calls within 500 feet of the shoreline.
The two WAHOO boats, each powered by a 225-hp Evenrude motor, are equipped with an 18-hp, 350-gpm Hale pump. They have 300 feet each of 1’/>-and 2’/2-inch hose with various nozzles and miscellaneous related equipment.
Also carried are two five-gallon pails of AFFF, two SCBAs, and a 1,600-watt Coleman generator, which is actually assigned but not carried to maintain a top speed of 50 mph. The generator is kept dockside with a floodlight and carried only for night calls. Searchlights are carried on the boats at all times, and a crew of six firefighters is assigned.
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Selbyville is situated on the Mason Dixon Line at the southernmost point of Delaware. It is about 11 miles in from the Atlantic Ocean and several beach resorts, including Ocean City, Maryland. Selbyville has a population of about 2,500 and covers about 24 square miles.
The town is protected by a volunteer force of 60 personnel operating two pumpers, a rescue, a brush truck, a 6,500-gallon tractor-drawn tanker, and a Sutphen minitower, purchased to protect a large poultry processing plant, schools, several churches and apartment complexes, a shopping center, and a developing industrial park in addition to residential housing, according to Pep Pepper, fire company vice president.
The unit, constructed of stainless steel, has a 220-inch wheelbase and a cab that seats six. The body has six high side and 10 low’ compartments. Rear jump seats are secured by Fire Research custommade gates.
The pump, a Hale QSMG 1,500-gpm, single-stage with five-inch Storz intakes and a five-inch Storz discharge on the right side, carries 800 feet of five-inch hose. Above the pump are two 200-foot attack lines of 1’/2-inch hose. A front 2’/2-inch discharge is wyed off to 150 feet of 1 ‘/2-inch attack line and 100 feet of one-inch line. At the rear is 250 feet of 2 Vi-inch Blitz line. The water tank holds 1,000 gallons.
The 65-foot minitower has twin buckets with a 600-pound payload capacity. A threeto four-inch waterpipe feeds one 1,500-gpm Akron nozzle, which can be controlled from the bucket or the ground. An additional Akron Apollo 1,500-gpm portable monitor is mounted on the cab roof.
Air is supplied through two systems, one to the buckets and one for the pump operator. The outrigger spread for the tower is 12 feet. A 7.5-kw Onan gasoline generator is carried. Two 500-watt KwikRazc telescoping floodlights are mounted above the pump panel, and two 1,000-watt floods are mounted at the rear.
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In Washington State, the Snohomish County Fire District No. 1 covers 30 square miles and protects a population of 60.000. The combination paid/volunteer force operates out of four stations with six pumpers and five aid cars.
Director John T. Dolan explains that the two Darley pumpers, designed with the operational needs of the department and its firefighters in mind, have many thought-out features.
Due to the many road grades of six to eight percent, a Scries 60, 450-hp Detroit diesel engine with an Allison HTB-741 automatic transmission was specified. Retarders on the transmissions give the driver the control needed when responding on country roadways, many of which are narrow and congested. The pumpers have wheelbases of 178 inches.
With weight restrictions in mind, the Spartan Gladiator four-door tilt cab (with six seats) and the rear body compartments are constructed of aluminum, which, the director says, is easier to maintain in the Pacific Northwest. The apparatus has 11 compartments. The vehicle—with 500 gallons of water and equipment— weighs 32,780 pounds.
1 o avoid back strain, an overhead ladder rack lowers to about 46 inches from the ground. Seventy-three feet of ground ladders are carried in the rack and were easily removed in timed evolutions for department standards. Right side roll-up compartment doors allow easy access to equipment when the rack is down.
The unit has a Darley Model “N” 1,500-gpm, single-stage pump with a four-inch intake and 3 ‘/2-inch discharge at the rear. Onethousand feet of four-inch hose is carried. The rear hose bed and transverse tray (for attack line of 1^6-inch) are 62 inches from the ground so that a firefighter standing on the ground can unload either one with minimal chance of strain or injury. A Clark Davis intercom system enhances communications and reduces the effect of siren and air-horn noise.
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