rescue tools off the front

[hotzone]

Who here has the hose reels mounted in the front bumper and prefers them there?

[Eng34FF]

We have a combi tool on the front bumper and the cutters and spreaders on compartments on the side. The front bumper is nice in some situations so you can pull up to the accident and work off of the front bumper and be a little more protected. We also have the single twist disconnects on the tools so we can easily switch from the combo tool to cutters or spreaders and still work off of the bumper line.

[RFDACM02]

I'm still not seeing any advantage to apparatus mounted tools anymore? Given the size and weight of the new portable power packs and the savings, why spend the extra dough? By the time we priced out mounting tools and reels we found that we could save money and still purchase two portable power units, various coils of hose lengths. One firefighter can carry one tool, a hose and the power unit with relative ease. A simply rigged dolly would allow for multiple tools, hose and PP.

[hotzone]

Quite honestly thats the direction we may be heading. We purchased a new set of tools with portability in mind and will likely throw them on our rescue truck now, use them that way and decide whether we want "truck mounted" tools.

[ffmedcbk1]

i do have them and like them. the majority of our responses are door pops and have had a nice flow of ops. one guy can pull both the spreaders and cutters. the thing we were going for was no one has to go to the rear of the rigs on the freeway.

my volley house can not do this due to the approach angles and driveway elevations needed in the rural setting. the career house can due to realtively flat area and our suburban/ urban area we don't take the drives on fire attack.

pros: direct line to most 95%ish of our incidents for extrications, saves side compartment spaces.
cons: we gave up the front suctions (reels and hose and diamond plate lid were actually cheaper $5k vs 8k in 2008 though), some care is needed to ensure tools are lubed.

[voyager9]

I'm still not seeing any advantage to apparatus mounted tools anymore?

As with most things there are pros and cons to both setups and one has to weigh the tradoffs for their own situation.

The disadvantage to apparatus mounted tools is obviously the lack of portability. Your power unit and tools are tied to the reels and generator (PTO) on the truck. The truck-mounted reels add quite a bit to the cost.

The advantage to having the tools hard-mounted seems mainly in ease of deployment and speed. There are a few less steps involved since we don't have to remove the power unit/generator (or whatever power the PU) and uncoil enough line before going into service. Secondary is that the compartment is usually a little cleaner with the cord stored on reels.. especially for longer lengths.

Personally I'm a fan of truck-mounted tools. Our currently rescue actually has both and usually the truck-mounted are pulled first. On the other hand, we are getting a new rescue and I don't believe the tools are truck mounted. Everything will use portable units. This was done to save the cost of the reels..etc.

[RoaddoggAK]

We kind of have the best of both worlds. Our tools are mounted in the truck on 100' reels, but powered by our gas power plant in the same compartment on a slide out tray. One pull and you're ready to go on the gas motor, and in the event you need to go farther than the 100 on reels, just pop your connections at the pump and walk away with it.

[voyager9]

We kind of have the best of both worlds. Our tools are mounted in the truck on 100' reels, but powered by our gas power plant in the same compartment on a slide out tray. One pull and you're ready to go on the gas motor, and in the event you need to go farther than the 100 on reels, just pop your connections at the pump and walk away with it.

Is the pump on a tray or on something transportable? I have heard of setups like this where the portable unit is stored on a cart in such a way that it can be used while still in the compartment. While in the compartment the reels were used but extra line was stored on the cart itself for use when removed from the truck.

Question on the gas powered unit in the compartment.. are fumes/exhaust a problem?

[johnsb]

Who here has the hose reels mounted in the front bumper and prefers them there?

What kind of area do you respond in and what kind of truck? There's reasons for having them in the bumper. My big city dept. has them in the rear and a side comp., my rural dept has them in the front because of mostly 2 lane roads and the medic usually gets to the scene first. What are YOUR needs?

[RoaddoggAK]

The pump is on it's own slide out tray, giving the operator the room to operate the throttle, choke and pull string, while letting the exhaust exit out the side. Could it be run in the compartment, sure, but the exhaust would deflect off the side wall.

We set the reels up as 70'/30' sections, so that you could just unwind the first 30' if you needed a breakaway section and also as a way to prevent having to replace the whole line in the event you may damage the line that is around the car.

[yjbrody]

The pump is on it's own slide out tray, giving the operator the room to operate the throttle, choke and pull string, while letting the exhaust exit out the side. Could it be run in the compartment, sure, but the exhaust would deflect off the side wall.

Ours is like this too except instead of having the mobile pump supplying 2 tools from the same side compartment it supplies 1 tool and reel in the same compartment (choice of cutter or spreader) but also connects to a hardline that runs to the front bumper with a reel and combi tool.

Very nice setup that is really flexible.

I like the 70/30 setup RoadDogg. Smart.

[RoaddoggAK]

Thanks brody. I have to admit, the 70/30 wasn't our original idea. Our TNT dealer, First Out Rescue, has been setting them up like that for a while now. They have had a good bit of success with it, from what I hear.

[RFDACM02]

If we had the front mounted tools, they'd be used more often than the portable ones, no doubt. I agree that most of our (few as of late) jobs are easily done within reach of the truck. But when speccing out the new rescue engine, we just couldn't justify the added cost while trying to ensure we still had portability. Our original intent was a mounted system with a separate portable unit for remote locations, in the end the cost to do the fixed mounting and power was far greater than the second portable power unit. As for speed, 99% of the time the tools are placed and hooked up ready to go within a minute of the officer completing the extrication "size-up" and more often before stabilization is complete. A single door pop? Sure the bumper mount may be faster, but a lot faster? And justifiably faster given the expense? Not here.

BTW, I know 2 times my shift has had to take the extrication equipment to calls in our utility truck due to the engine being out for service. The next closest set of tools was 15-20 minutes out.

[ColoradoDave]

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