Ladder Tank Size

[Pyroechidna1]

Howdy folks,
At the moment i'm drawing up a quint for my own enjoyment. But I am wondering-what, in your opinion, is the largest water tank you could pair with a 75' aluminum aerial and still have space to carry all of the equipment you need? (Tandem axle is granted). My hometown department runs a truck with a 1500gpm pump and a 1500 gallon tank with a top-mount pump panel and a rear-mounted 55' telesquirt on a Mack MR chassis (bet you've never seen that before!) so obviously it's possible to get a pretty sizeable tank and still have the aerial to boot. But the trend for quints these days seems to be toward large pumps and small (300-500 gallon) water tanks.

So, what do you all think? I'd appreciate any thoughts.

[ctxffman]

http://www.apparatusfloor.com/0002-07.jpg

Mack Thibault

here's a top mount aerial for you. It's red now,
there are 4 rear facing seats in the rear crew area, with a pair of sliding doors that open onto the pump panel area, but you had to be careful not to bang your head on the beam.
This truck was driven from Canada to central Tx for us to use as a loaner, we never once drove it.
lots of rust.
all the gauges were in metric. 52 mph top speed. or 83 kph.
85' squirt. tank pump unknown

[quint1officer]

Id like to see a pic, if thats possible.

[Ledebuhr1]

Take a look at Fallon Nv.'s ladders. I believe that they are 62ft steel. and they carry 2000gal water and a lot of A and B foam. They also have every peice of equipemnt you can think of . Im sure they are very heavy.

[skipatrol8]

http://www.nefirenews.org/mass/SherbornE1.jpg

i love it. i know of only one other mack mr ladder, in cannan RI. it has an RK stick.

[metrobob]

Pyroechidna1,

This company has an interesting truck. www.gvfd.org/apparatus.htm

I also recall seeing somewhere in York County (?) Pa., a KME 75' Quint with maybe 650 gallons I believe.

[ChiefDog]

I think HME/AhrensFox has a quint similar to what you are talking on their website. 6-700gallons of water, 75' on a tandem axle. It is under

http://www.hmeahrensfox.com/Arsenal.asp

[allineedisu]

Check with Pierce or another good builder of fire apparatus and see what they say. You have to consider the weigh factor on the roads and bridges that this so call dream ride would be operating on. The state where it will be titled, will have rules that goven the size and weight.

Most I have seen for the 75 foot quint is 500 gallons. There may be larger tanks.


www.piercemfg.com for referencing.

[Pyroechidna1]

Thanks folks. In my town there are no bridges and the roads are easily navigable, so our trucks can be pretty heavy. I'll take a look at all of your suggestions.

[ecfr1978]

Goshen Pa fire Sta 54/56 has a 2005 Pierce 75' ladder with 750 gal. Check their site www.goshenfireco.com

[Chauffeur6]

I think, given a tandem axle and 75' aluminum ladder, you could probably get away with a 750 gallon tank without sacrificing too much compartment space. If the tank is done right, you'd probably still be able to have full depth high side or full length full depth rescue style compartments. Of course other factors influencing that would be overall length of the truck, the size of the pump, whether or not you have a hosebed, type and location of generator, and quantity, length and location of ground ladders. If you opt for a large two stage midship pump, it'll eat up valuable space. Ditto for a hosebed. If you have a diesel generator mounted up top instead of a PTO mounted on the frame, more tank space taken. If you have a ton of ground ladders stored in the center of the truck through the torque box, and they're long (especially two-section types), less tank space.

[BlitzfireSolo]

Just to link the two discussions together... http://forums.firehouse.com/showthre...6&page=1&pp=20

Obviously most manufacturers will do the 75'/750 gallon on a tandem (Granbury, as linked above, even has the 750 on a 105'). The question is, who will do 1,000 gallons or more, other than HME (or Alexis/HME, in the Bettendorf case).

Getting rid of the LFD cab and the speed lays on Bettendorf would shorten the wheelbase considerably, thereby giving more maneuverability and a more compact package. While moving the pump & tank forward would put some weight on the front axle, the shorter wheelbase might make up for this. Also note that they are only a 21,500 front and 52K rear - another 1,500-2,500 in front and 10K in the rear is not uncommon for a lot of larger aerial apparatus.

[Ledebuhr1]

I think you can go up to a 24k front, at least with Pirece TAK-4 IFS. Rear ends can go up to 57k tandem. That would allow you a truck that was 81k Gvwr.