Sylva Fire Dept. New 78' Ladder Truck

[BULL321]

Today we took delivery of our new HME 78' Ladder Truck! She has a 500hp Cummins motor, with a 6 man cab. 600 gal. of water/40 gal foam cell and a 1500 Hale pump. Of course she was painted ALF Chrome Yellow! She is the very first ladder truck our dept has ever had and we feel very lucky and proud to put her into service today.

[BULL321]

Here are some more pictures

[BULL321]

And some more!

[snowball]

Congratulations. Don't turn the wheels until your butt is out the door!

[BULL321]

Congratulations. Don't turn the wheels until your butt is out the door!

Yes, Sir! BTW is that some hard learned advice?

[snowball]

Yes, Sir! BTW is that some hard learned advice?

Some of our houses used to have horse drawn apparatus running out of them, so the doors are narrow. When you have trucks with 8' plus past the rear axle, it is beaten in to you to wait until the rear duals drop into the gutter before you turn. That still hasn't stopped the shop from replacing lights, bumper boxes, and even rear body panels. Hasn't happened to me but I've been there to pick up the pieces! We are considering going back to tillers.

[tree68]

Nice looking rig.

Snowball's advice can apply to shorter trucks, too, especially if a department has a mix of custom and conventional cab apparatus, or a new custom/cabover rig. The drivers get so used to turning at a certain point with the conventional cab that they forget they're sitting ahead of the front axle and need to delay their turn just that much...

[ChathamVFD9921]

Great looking truck!

[WBFD25]

Nice looking truck. Congrats!

[ChiefKN]

Congrats, good luck to you guys!

[BULL321]

Some of our houses used to have horse drawn apparatus running out of them, so the doors are narrow. When you have trucks with 8' plus past the rear axle, it is beaten in to you to wait until the rear duals drop into the gutter before you turn. That still hasn't stopped the shop from replacing lights, bumper boxes, and even rear body panels. Hasn't happened to me but I've been there to pick up the pieces! We are considering going back to tillers.

We used to have kinda the same problem here. There used to be horse shoe shape bumpers between each bay at around 2 1/2' out from the building. One of the guys cut it to sharp coming out one day and took out the side of the engine. Long story short, the bumpers all got cut down and moved all the way up against the building.

[FyredUp]

Hey Bull,

What is your first impession of this rig? I know you had some hesitations about getting an HME.

Just to satisfy my curiousity, what is the ladder compliment on board?

[ffmedcbk1]

yes i am curious of the ladders and the saws you will carry.

[FIREMECH1]

Nice rig Bull. Hope it works out well for you guys.

What.... no joystick....

FM1

[auxman]

HOw much did it cost?

[GTRider245]

I am NOT an HME fan, but that is a good looking truck. Only question I have is, knowing what we carry on our ladder, where are you going to put everything?

[CaptOldTimer]

Who made the ladder?

[FIREMECH1]

Who made the ladder?

It looks like an RK ladder.

FM1

[BULL321]

Hey Bull,

What is your first impession of this rig? I know you had some hesitations about getting an HME.

Just to satisfy my curiousity, what is the ladder compliment on board?

I was impressed with the fit and finish, so far. Its very quiet in the dog house, much more so that our older trucks, even with 500 horses under the cab. She drives/rides very smooth, great turning radius plenty of power and she stops on a dime, so to speak.

Packing hose is going to be "fun" the preconnect above the pump panel could stand to be 3" higher. and the rear hose bed is very tight.

We going to have to add "SYLVA" to the front of the rig under the windshield. And we are trying to talk the Chief into calling the truck "Ladder 1 or 3" instead of Ladder 358, and put the lettering on the passenger doors also.

Ladder wise I believe that she got 1- 34' 3- 24' 2 - 16' & 1 - 14' roof ladders and one attic ladder. I'm working tonight at the Office, so I'll ride by and check.

Saw wise it will have 2 chain saws and at least 1 k-12. maybe 2.

Nice rig Bull. Hope it works out well for you guys.

What.... no joystick....

FM1

That cost extra, and we're on a tight Budget!
Hell I don't even know if that was an option.

HOw much did it cost?

As seen without any of our equipment on bord at or around $545,000

I am NOT an HME fan, but that is a good looking truck. Only question I have is, knowing what we carry on our ladder, where are you going to put everything?

That is a very GOOD question.

It looks like an RK ladder.

FM1

It is a RK ladder.

[FyredUp]

I was impressed with the fit and finish, so far. Its very quiet in the dog house, much more so that our older trucks, even with 500 horses under the cab. She drives/rides very smooth, great turning radius plenty of power and she stops on a dime, so to speak.


We have had no complaints after 5 years with fit and finish. Ours however is VERY loud inside the cab and we were told that the issue was the type of fan on the motor. If we had gone with a different style of fan it would have been much quieter, and we would of had we known. Our HME is an engine with a 2000 gpm pump and 1000 gallons of water with a 370 Cummins and it has more than enough power. Just like yours the turning radius is amazing.

Packing hose is going to be "fun" the preconnect above the pump panel could stand to be 3" higher. and the rear hose bed is very tight.

One thing we did, and if my head would have been in the game better for you I would have suggested this to you too, we sent 2 inch hose with our salesman and said the bumper crosslays have to be able to carry 200 feet each with a nozzle, and the crosslays need to be able to carry 300 feet each with a nozzle. Because they had the hose they had no excuses if it didn't fit.

We going to have to add "SYLVA" to the front of the rig under the windshield. And we are trying to talk the Chief into calling the truck "Ladder 1 or 3" instead of Ladder 358, and put the lettering on the passenger doors also.

Geez Bull, how about a little NIMS compliance? It is a TRUCK! Man, you can buy them the vehicle but you just can't get them to name it right!

Ladder wise I believe that she got 1- 34' 3- 24' 2 - 16' & 1 - 14' roof ladders and one attic ladder. I'm working tonight at the Office, so I'll ride by and check.

My guess is a 35, either 2 28's, or a 28 and a 30, and a 24, the roof ladders it is hard to guess but usually on a truck they are 16's and 20's.

Saw wise it will have 2 chain saws and at least 1 k-12. maybe 2.

Good choices, the more the merrier if you have room for them.

That cost extra, and we're on a tight Budget!

Hell I don't even know if that was an option.

Geezus, a joystick? Why not just have it so you can run it off an iPhone for crying out loud!




As seen without any of our equipment on bord at or around $545,000

Dude! That is less than my career FD paid for their last rescue ENGINE!




That is a very GOOD question.

The side stacker is a sweet option for loading hose but it sure steals a lot of compartment space. Trade offs, there are always trade offs.


It is a RK ladder.

They have used RK ladders for years.

It is a beautiful rig and I would love to have it in either of my POC FDs. Having looked at the pictures I would only make one change and that would be to go wth the bumper crosslays like we have on our HME.

Your committee did a really nice job and I think you should be proud.