Preconnected Hose beds

[fredstrucks]

We are in the proccess of specing out a new apparatus. We may want to put our preconnects out the rear of the Engine. Any thoughts? Does this make the hosebed too busy and hard to load? All our present Engines have crosslays (midship), we want to start operating with the thought of saving the front of the building for the Ladders. Is this too drastic of a move or should we just live with losing hose length and spec this Engine as the others? Thanks for any info.

[mcaldwell]

We are in the proccess of specing out a new apparatus. We may want to put our preconnects out the rear of the Engine. Any thoughts? Does this make the hosebed too busy and hard to load? All our present Engines have crosslays (midship), we want to start operating with the thought of saving the front of the building for the Ladders. Is this too drastic of a move or should we just live with losing hose length and spec this Engine as the others? Thanks for any info.


If I understand you correctly; you want to use the hose bed to build and store longer pre-connected lines so you can cover exposures and rear of structures, while using the smaller crosslays off the ladder trucks for the streetside attack line?

We have trucks with both styles of pre-connect, but the newer ones use crosslays. The spec for our new wildland/crash engine has the pre-connects in the rear again though, with booster lines off the side. Rear pre-connects have some potential problems that might not make your ops go quite as smoothly as planned.

-It is more difficult to pull the hoses 90 degrees off the back of the body, especially when the hoses are longer, and there is potentially a ladder rack on the passenger side of the body right beside that line.
-There are often just as many if not more obstructions to pulling hose off the rear (i.e. other engines, cops, ambulances), as crosslays.
-Obviously overall bed space is reduced, so hose capacity is limited as well.
-And a note: If you don't use proper dividers between each line in the hose bed, you risk inadvertently deploying lines and spaghetti factories.

There are some good points though.

-Loading is fine, possibly even easier than crosslays as you don't have to work around deck guns and uneven bodies.
-Rear dividers are often more adjustable than crosslays, so you can reconfigure as needed.


Have you considered a pre-packed wye load in the back for this role?

On our old engine, we kept 200 feet of 2 1/2 connected to the truck, with a wye on the end to 2x 150 or 200 foot 1 3/4 handlines. If you load the handlines on an old backboard, it can be dragged up to the house or down the alley, and the lines deployed from there.

Our primary engine now has 2x 1 3/4 cross-lays (200ft), and 1x rear 2 1/2 pre-connect (200ft, but easily extendable). I think that is the preffered structural setup for us today, but both work well enough.

[RFDACM02]

We are in the proccess of specing out a new apparatus. We may want to put our preconnects out the rear of the Engine. Any thoughts? Does this make the hosebed too busy and hard to load? All our present Engines have crosslays (midship), we want to start operating with the thought of saving the front of the building for the Ladders. Is this too drastic of a move or should we just live with losing hose length and spec this Engine as the others? Thanks for any info.

You're right on target with what we are planning on our new first due. The hosebed can be very busy or quite simple depending on your requirements.

[Irishff736]

My company was been working off the rear of the engine since 1996. So far we have not had a problem with it. The first due engine pulls past the fire building leaving room for the ladder company. Our engine has 2 200 feet preconnected 1 3/4 with another 200 feet of dead lay under it. Then we have 1000 feet of 3 and 1/2, 1000 feet of 4 inch and then 1 150 feet of preconnected of 2 1/2 blitz line with another 100 feet of dead lay. Our rescue(rescue-engine) has 3 200 feet of 1 3/4 preconnected with another 200 feet of dead lay, then 1000 feet of 4 inch and 150 feet of 2 1/2 preconnected blitz line with another 100 feet of dead lay.

Here is a picture of our Rescue company.
http://www.westvillefd.com/images/appartus/Picture%20015.jpg

[MG3610]

We are about to accept delivery of our new rig which has no crosslays. We will have two lines off the bumper (150 and 100 foot) and the balance off the rear.

http://jbhuntfire.com/images/production/6958/

It will be the first of its kind in our small fleet. The reasons we did this are as follows.

-Increased hosebed flexibility/efficiency
-removing pressurized hoselines from in the face of the operator
-use of conventional crosslay location for stokes basket and backboard storage.

If you are set on crosslays, consider this option (locating the discharges on the panels rather than in the bed), a very foward thinking approach to making crosslays more efficient and flexible...courtesy Raritan twp Fire Co, Hunterdon Co. NJ

[FD1976]

We've eliminated crosslays and never looked back.

Engine always pulls past the fire and leaves the front clear for the truck.

Much easier to skid and pack.

Not in the way of the MPO.

More flexibilty if you want to change the diameter or length in the future.

Standardized location of hose. If the pre-connect is not long enough, the other beds are right next to them. You can also store additional "dead lengths" below the pre-connects.

[Engine305]

The picture of the pump panel looks like it will be quite an engine, with the Foam system, Cafs controls etc. taken on the famous blue floor....hmmmmm
We are getting the side hosewills on our new engine also.
2 standard 200 foot crosslays and some on the rear.

[ScottAvery]

Both trucks look very well laid out. Its amazing how many ideas that truck committees come up with that they prefer for their departments.

[RFDACM02]

My company was been working off the rear of the engine since 1996. So far we have not had a problem with it. The first due engine pulls past the fire building leaving room for the ladder company. Our engine has 2 200 feet preconnected 1 3/4 with another 200 feet of dead lay under it. Then we have 1000 feet of 3 and 1/2, 1000 feet of 4 inch and then 1 150 feet of preconnected of 2 1/2 blitz line with another 100 feet of dead lay. Our rescue(rescue-engine) has 3 200 feet of 1 3/4 preconnected with another 200 feet of dead lay, then 1000 feet of 4 inch and 150 feet of 2 1/2 preconnected blitz line with another 100 feet of dead lay.


That looks like a well thought out, nice array. But how far up is it to those preconnects? Are they fairly easy to pull?

Now I've noticed where this truck is from and am disappointed we didn't come take a look at it when we were in NJ looking at Rescue Pumpers. You guys were on our list but time precluded us from stopping in.

[skipatrol8]

We are about to accept delivery of our new rig which has no crosslays. We will have two lines off the bumper (150 and 100 foot) and the balance off the rear.

http://jbhuntfire.com/images/production/6958/

It will be the first of its kind in our small fleet. The reasons we did this are as follows.

-Increased hosebed flexibility/efficiency
-removing pressurized hoselines from in the face of the operator
-use of conventional crosslay location for stokes basket and backboard storage.

If you are set on crosslays, consider this option (locating the discharges on the panels rather than in the bed), a very foward thinking approach to making crosslays more efficient and flexible...courtesy Raritan twp Fire Co, Hunterdon Co. NJ

Are there discharges for the crosslays on both sides? Seems like it would be a pain to be on the officers side and need to walk around to connect. But if there's two discharges per line, that would mean considerably more stuff on the panel.

[npfd801]

Almost looks like there's room for four preconnects, and I would bet you have one connection of each size on each side just below the beds.

Just my opinion, and if you ask my wife, it's likely wrong.

[MG3610]

http://www.21fire.org/pics/Squad21/

One of each size on each side.

[FD1976]

http://www.21fire.org/pics/Squad21/

One of each size on each side.

Verrry nice rig, bets of luck with it. It looks like it was very well thought out. Interesting color choice too!

[ScottAvery]

I must say I really like the silver on red(sorry not trying to change the subject) I want our PUC to be red and silver. now I have pictures to show the crew.

[fredstrucks]

We've eliminated crosslays and never looked back.

Engine always pulls past the fire and leaves the front clear for the truck.

Much easier to skid and pack.

Not in the way of the MPO.

More flexibilty if you want to change the diameter or length in the future.

Standardized location of hose. If the pre-connect is not long enough, the other beds are right next to them. You can also store additional "dead lengths" below the pre-connects.

Thanks for your imput..I wanted to see the layout of the rear of the hose bed. I think we may explore this option a little deeper. A big step to change but a change for the better I think