Forum-driven Design: An Era?

[BlitzfireSolo]

Not right off, but our next will be another engine, likely more standard, but possibly looking toward an innovative supply engine. I've personally been looking into front mount pumps, short wheel bases and carrying the minimum engine company tools while loading up on LDH, fittings. I've seen quite a few that looked like they'd fit the bill. But, it looks like we're probably 2 years out without the city council trying to delay the purchase.

Very similar to what we're looking at, although we'll be even further out unless we get a grant. You can't beat the short wheelbase, 4x4 front-mount pumps for water supply! I assume you've been looking at some of Firematic's recent units; anything else you've picked up on? Front-mounts are few and far between these days, and a good water supply unit is even harder to come by. I've been keeping my eyes open.

[nameless]

Maybe people should look at fire trucks as work trucks, and not shiny new toys to show off to their friends from other departments. I'm not against buying trucks that fit your needs, but many people go overboard with "their needs". Sorry, but very few fire departments are "unique", there are a 100s of towns/cities/etc just like them.

[volff1170]

[QUOTE=BoxAlarm187;1317913]Are you speaking of the new St Louis pumpers?


Photo by BoxAlarm187

The booster tank isn't above the hosebed, this would create a pretty dangerous center of gravity. The area above the hosebed is actually used for the light tower storage, etc.



I don't know if that's the right truck or not... It looks about the same but I remember someone saying that the booster tank was above the hose bed. If memory serves me, I think they said that they carried 500 gallons of water. The weight of the water and the weight of the hose were almost the same so it didn't matter which one was above the other. I guess to me, it makes sense to put the water on top and eliminate the need to climb up to get the supply hose or in coffin cabinets.

[BlitzfireSolo]

Maybe people should look at fire trucks as work trucks, and not shiny new toys to show off to their friends from other departments. I'm not against buying trucks that fit your needs, but many people go overboard with "their needs". Sorry, but very few fire departments are "unique", there are a 100s of towns/cities/etc just like them.

Yep... because that's what this is all about: buying shiny new toys to show off to friends. Earth-shattering to think that perhaps we should "look at them as work trucks."

[CCCFire09]

Not right off, but our next will be another engine, likely more standard, but possibly looking toward an innovative supply engine. I've personally been looking into front mount pumps, short wheel bases and carrying the minimum engine company tools while loading up on LDH, fittings. I've seen quite a few that looked like they'd fit the bill. But, it looks like we're probably 2 years out without the city council trying to delay the purchase.

H&W in Hillsboro, Oregon builds front mounts on a regular basis. They are a great custom builder.

[Bones42]

Found another computer to use for the pics...

There was a thread where we were talking about an EMS cabinet and access to it. I had mentioned on ours, we have a full size compartment on officer side, but only small access door to interior as we don't do EMS so we didn't need bigger. We utilized void space under the bench seat for hook storage that is accessible from driver and officer sides. Pics below...

full cabinet...


hooks at top of opening under bench seat...

[FD1976]

Sounds great. Feel free to share anything on here - even if it's just the little stuff, obviously that's the stuff that counts!

Hows that rig working out with the crazy front bumper? Would you buy another one?

[RFDACM02]

Without a doubt, we could all likely cover a large percentage of our work with the same pumper, if we had too. Pump? Check. Tank water? Check. Hose? Check. Basic tool? Check. OK, time to go to work. We could do the job without any emergency lights, no auxiliary lighting, no ladder racks, high hose beds, etc. etc. The fact is that within some reality we can be more efficient if we spec a truck for the way we operate. Could we do it with a basic generic commercial pumper built and equipped to the minimum NFPA spec? Yes. There is some middle ground that's still within reality from the most basic engine through the ultra-custom every bell and whistle rescue pumpers that go to more parades than fires.

If your citizens are happy and support the $800k engine and aren't circling the taxation drain, more power to you. If you're losing firefighters, police officers, closing schools and still can't make municipal payroll, maybe a plain jane fleet is the most responsible thing. If your in the middle, you'll spec what you need to do the job the best you can while being mindful of the taxpayers. I figure the harder I make it for the taxpayers to pay for our equipment, the harder it'll be for them to fund positions, insurance, or pay raises.

[FF715MRFD]

Without a doubt, we could all likely cover a large percentage of our work with the same pumper, if we had too. Pump? Check. Tank water? Check. Hose? Check. Basic tool? Check. OK, time to go to work. We could do the job without any emergency lights, no auxiliary lighting, no ladder racks, high hose beds, etc. etc. The fact is that within some reality we can be more efficient if we spec a truck for the way we operate. Could we do it with a basic generic commercial pumper built and equipped to the minimum NFPA spec? Yes. There is some middle ground that's still within reality from the most basic engine through the ultra-custom every bell and whistle rescue pumpers that go to more parades than fires.

That's pretty much how I feel about the subject. In fact, the Engine we are specing right now is basically the same design as the 32 year old truck it's replacing. Its a very simple, efficient design and guess what, I'm pretty sure it'll put out just as much fire as a $500,000 engine.

Another good example of that is a Combo Department in my county. They have 2 Custom Cab Engines, a Custom Cab Tower Ladder, a Commercial Crew Cab Interface Engine, a Commercial 2-Door Tanker, a 2-Door Mini Pumper, and 3 (for lack of a better term) Chiefs Vehicles. All this for a Dept that has been cut down to 6 Full Time positions, they have 2 FF's on duty during the day and only 1 FF during night and weekend shifts. When their rigs leave the station they have 1 person on them as their volunteers respond directly to the scene.

I'm certainly not bad mouthing that dept., they are a really good group of guys and gals, paid and vollies both, and we work with them a lot. It's just a good example of where less fancy would work good, and save taxpayers thousands of dollars.

[BlitzfireSolo]

Looks good, Bones. Did you guys end up doing the donut rolls in the bumper?

FD1976 - That's a long story and a complicated answer. It's unfortunate that the feature that people remember the most is the darn moving bumper, which was one of the few things on the rig that I do NOT take responsibility for..

[Bones42]

No, I lost the donut roll battle. Front bumper has 2 1/2" discharge with a gated wye on it. 100' of 1 3/4" line and 50' of 1" line. Front suction also.