The Commack (NY) Fire Department, located on the north shore of Suffolk County, New York, was in the planning stages to have a new heavy rescue vehicle built for its response district. The older vehicle, according to Lieutenant Chris Ciaccio, was more than 20 years old and was beginning to have some maintenance issues. The department also had outgrown the older unit.
The response district consists of four stations located throughout a 12-square-mile area. It is congested with strip shopping centers, schools, medical facilities, big-box stores, hotels, condos, restaurants, and just about every other type of commercial and residential area. There was definitely a need to go with a larger updated heavy rescue vehicle to respond to all types of auto accidents and technical rescue incidents throughout the area.
PLANNING THE NEW VEHICLE
The old heavy rescue was built in 1999 and had smaller compartments. Since that time, the department had purchased a box truck to hold all of its additional technical rescue tools and, if needed, responded with both trucks to a scene. “We also felt that we actually lost compartment space for equipment with the slide-out trays we had installed in the older unit, which at the time was the way to go,” says Ciaccio. “Subsequently, we took the box truck out of service and had all of that equipment stored all over our fire headquarters.”
1 The Commack (NY) Fire Department’s 42-foot heavy rescue is built on a Pierce Velocity cab and chassis. (Photos by author.)
2 Compartments holding vehicle extrication tools, hydraulic and electric reels, struts, and spare self-contained breathing apparatus cylinders.
3 Compartments with saws, portable fans, air bags, forcible entry tools, and hand tools.