Thoughts on Rescue/Pumpers

[90Truck]

hey all. i was just tryin to gather some thoughts on rescue pumpers. i ride on one, don't really think it was worth the money. it is an incredible engine, but just doesn't carry the tools that a rescue should carry due to space. i just don't understand why u should sacrifice that much equipment to turn two trucks into one when we had the money and manpower to run two trucks. thanks for the input!! peace

[ForbesCTC]

IF you have the $$$ and MANPOWER, they are In my opinion, not a good choice.
We run one, for us with limited cash flow and more limited manpwer, it is a great compromise.

[bfpd36]

Three of our four pumpers in my district are pumper-rescue trucks. The one station that runs our straight pumper, also houses our heavy rescue.

Personally, I like the pumper-rescue. The heavy rescue responds to all rescue calls, but can be called off if the pumper-rescue can handle. There are only so many compartments on the truck and we remember that when setting it up. All the trucks carry the NFPA required equipment to make them a class A pumper and anyroom left over goes to the rescue equipment.

[RES13CUE]

We use an Engine/Rescue. We've had one in service since 1995 and it works well for us. We carry a full compliment of Rescue Tools and Cribbing as well as air bags. It is also our Front-Line Engine on Structual assignments with 1 3/4" - and 5" Supply Line

[FlyingKiwi]

Lets see, we carry Hurst tools, cribbing, straps etc. Water tank 1800 litres, 1 high pressure, 4 Low Pressure outlets. 10.5 metre and 4 metre ladders, chainsaws etc. Forestry packs and two portable pumps, 1 main with 100 mm suction and one forestry. Line rescue equipment as well.

Guess that makes it a Pumper/Engine/Rescue/Forestry thingy truck.

We just call it "The Truck".

our nearest support is 15 minutes either direction.

[90Truck]

Kiwi,
kinda eliminates the need for mutual aid, huh?!?!

[FlyingKiwi]

90, we still get the aid, especially MVA's. the two stations either side get sent by comms. we also have specialised rescue trucks available about 30 minutes out, and a rescue helicopter in town.

We do not have the space to carry one on the truck with all the other gear.

[Ohiovolffemtp]

I think the first question to answer is what are the most common rescue scenarios you'll respond to. For most of us, it's MVA's with entrapment. A typical pumper can carry a hydraulic rescue tool with cutters, spreaders, and rams, some cribbing, a sawzall, absorbent, etc. and still have sufficient space to be a structural engine. In this case a "rescue" pumper is a good choice.

If you run a lot of calls where large amounts of other equipment is needed, then a dedicated heavy rescue unit is needed. However, even in these circumstances, the rescue truck is largely a closet on wheels. Many departments have good success with less costly delivery van style trucks rather than full heavy rescue type vehicles.

Good luck on your decision.

[Firemedic 61]

We use the Rescue/Engine bodys on all but one of our engines(our Quantum was bought before that body was available) and love them. We can cary a full set of Hurst equip: Power unit, cutters, spreaders, 3 size rams and 2 preconnected reels for the tools, 4 sizes of air bags, rope rescue equip, pneumatic tools, tons of cribbing, ALS gear, power saws, hand tools, 12 spare air bottles, 2 ABC and 2 PW extingishers a genorator plus all the hand tools, hi-rise pack and more. We have 2 main reasons for having them:
we have 1,000 gal tanks which take up a lot of compartment room and, second is that we don't have our own heavy rescue, we mutual aid with the county who's truck is quite a long ways off. The plan is that if we have an extrication we call another one of our engines because we have all the same extrication equip the county's truck has. As far as hazmat and TRT goes, we call the county because we don't have enough of those calls to justify putting a heavy rescue in service. The only draw backs are that their is a lot of room and people tend to cram all they can into every compatment, and they are big, big trucks that take lots of room on the road. If you have a heavy rescue that can cover your district with a reasonable responce time, then I'd say save money and buy a regular body on your engine. For us the rescue/engine is the way to go, but it is not for everyone. Evaluate the equipment needed in the first 5-10 min after you get on scene and that should be a good rule between the engines+a heavy rescue or rescue/engine.

[johnusn978]

The Rescue-Pumper is not that bad an idea. You have to be careful with them, and I forget who it was hit the nail on the head. The Rescue-Pumper is NOT supposed to replace TWO rigs. It is supposed to supplement one.

Here in NY, our Squads run Resuce-Pumpers. The Squad Co's. are not trying to be a Rescue Co or a Truck Co. What they do do, is supplement both well. Five rescue companies can get stretched thin at times, doing Pin's, Fire's, other extractions and what not. Have another pin in the Boro, call the Squad. They are extraction techs like the Rescue, and have that tool for that job. Do they carry everything? No. Are they supposed to? No.

The Rescue-Pumper is in the same boat as the Quint. Both are good concepts. Both are victim to generalizations from politicans who think that they can do more with little.

[mdffemt]

I think the rescue engine is a nice piece to have in the station like others have said if you dont have the manpower to run 2 seperate apparatus. My dept is in the process of a buying a rescue engine we are getting the rescue tools on the truck to help cut down on extrication time on vehicular rescues. If the mutual aid rescue truck is in service and not already on another call their response isnt real long but we beat them in and its still nice to get things done a little sooner especially when all you need is the spreaders for a door pop. We also dont have a great number of rescues so buying a truck just for rescues really wouldnt be worth the cost considering most of the rescues are just door pops and roof removals.