question?

[npgert5819]

what are the requirements for calling a piece of apparatus a quint? and if you do call a piece of apparatus a quint and do not make the requirments is this ok?

[giweff]

I believe that a quint is a Ladder and a pumper our Ladder truck is a quint and it has a 75ft stick 500 gallon tank and a 2000 GPM pump. A full complement of ground ladders, 1000ft 5 inch, 2 200ft 1 3/4 crosslays, full complement of rescue tools, Vent saws, and a full complement of engine tools. So to me it is fine to call a truck a quint as long as it is a multiple purpose truck with a ladder and pumping capabilities.

[ElectricHoser]

A little abbreviated history lesson.

Originally, "fire engines" merely pumped water and squirted through a nozzle built right into the unit. We're talking as far back as early hand-drawn era units.

Hose carts were added to the fleet, as were ladder carts.

Engines evolved to carry their own hose and bring water, too, thus the triple combination engines brought hose, water, and the ability to pump.

When ground ladders were added, the new four-purpose unit was called a quad. Still, ground ladder carts evolved to trucks, and had fixed aerial devices attached, to become ladder or truck companies.

Lastly, when you add an aerial device to a quad, it gains a fifth function and becomes a quint.

1. Pump
2. Water
3. Hose,
4. Ground ladders
5. Aerial device

================

if you do call a piece of apparatus a quint and do not make the requirments is this ok?

I am not sure I understand this question. I think you are asking if it is "OK" to call something a "quint" even if it is not technically true. If that is your question, I guess you can call it anything you want, as long as everyone agrees to call it the same thing. But if a rig is missing any of the five functions above, it is not a real quint.

[RFDACM02]

I think realistically, most of us now consider any aerial that also has a true fire pump to be a quint. In some rare cases the FD will spec the pump solely to pump the aerial and would not be outfitted with attack lines and the like and I say it wasn't a quint. If you said "we have a quint" most would take that to mean you have an aerial with engine co. capabilites or an engine with an aerial device. Few people would ask you to prove you meet NFPA required equipment to call the peice a quint.

[Bones42]

what are the requirements for calling a piece of apparatus a quint?

Running it as an engine and a ladder at the same call.

and if you do call a piece of apparatus a quint and do not make the requirments is this ok?

HotTrotter may call the NFPA police and point out some irrelevant NFPA standard, but other than that, no one will really mind.

[Eng34FF]

HotTrotter may call the NFPA police and point out some irrelevant NFPA standard, but other than that, no one will really mind.

The only thing that I would add to Bones' comment is to make sure that any neighboring departments and/or mutual aid understands what you have. If they think they are getting a pump when they request your quint there might be problems if the pump will only feed the ladder.

[BoxAlarm187]

As far the NFPA is concerned, the following specific items are required for classify the rig as quint:

Water tank - minimum 300 gallons
Pump - minimum 1000gpm
Ladders - minimum 85' in ground ladders
Aerial - minimum 75' in length with a pre-piped waterway
Hose - minimum 30CF for storage of 2.5" (or greater) supply hose

Hope this helps...

[npfd801]

I think it depends on whose definition you're using for "quint." One definition may require it to carry 300 gallons of water (ISO, I believe, or at least NFPA). Our mutual aid organization is now using the designation of quint for apparatus that can function as an engine or an aerial, which is nice for the IC having far off units come in who may not know exactly what rigs are capable of what.

Our dearly departed aerial had a pump but no water tank, so we definitely didn't call it a quint. It could pump hand lines, but wasn't set up with preconnects, etc.

[npgert5819]

thanks everyone for the info

[STATION2]

What Box187 said but it is a 50' aerial with pre-piped waterway.
If you recall, St. Louis ran a Total Quint Concept (TQC) and half were 50' tele-squrts on Pierce Arrow chassis with the other half being 75' LTI aerials on KME chassis.

Just a thought.