By Michael N. Ciampo
This month's Compartment Corner comes from the scenic and historic town of Chester, located in Morris County, New Jersey, and like many places originally home to Indian Tribes and then inhabited by early settlers seeking the American dream. During the early years, the area was rich in apple and peach farms as well as agricultural land. Iron ore was also abundant in the area and mines began to flourish until a larger area was found in the midwest. When the mines began to close, the area turned to more farmland with sheep, dairy, and vegetables farms. Since the apples and peaches were abundant, many distilleries also began to develop, helping the local economy. Today the town is still a scenic area, with many farms still operating and is considered a contemporary suburban town with country homes and small town charm because of its historic downtown area.
The Chester (NJ) Volunteer Fire Company 1 was organized in 1921 when some local residents banded together to form the company. They mounted a chemical tank onto one of the original member’s Pierce Arrow truck chassis. Today, the department is very proud of still owning and operating two beautiful antique pieces of apparatus. The first, known as “The B,” is a restored 1963 enclosed cab Mack B Model pumper. The second historic piece, known as “The Turtle,” is a 1959 Dodge Ram Power Wagon, which was the department’s first brush and utility truck. The department currently operates the following apparatus: Engine 1, s 1994 Pierce Lance; Engine 2, a 2004 E-ONE Typhoon; Engine 4, a 1997 E-ONE; Ladder 9, a 1999 Pierce 105-foot aerial; Utility 2, a 1997 Ford 350 brush/utility truck; and a 2008 Ford Expedition chief’s vehicle. The department’s Tender 7, a 4,500-gallon tanker, is currently being rebuilt and mounted on a Peterbuilt chassis and has body work by Pierce.
The department also operates Rescue 5, which is a 2016 Pierce Impel 84-inch chassis with a 20-inch raised-roof tilt cab with a 24-foot nonwalk-in rescue body. It is powered by a Cummins ISL9 450-hp engine with an Allison EV400P automatic transmission. The rig has no pump or water tank. It has an Onan 35-kW single-phase PTO-driven generator and Will-Burt Nightscan Power-Lite. The rig has tandem axles with a crew cab that sits eight firefighters. The emergency light package has Federal LED Legend light bars and an LED traffic advisor bar light in the rear. There are three receivers for the portable winch, one of each side and one on the rear of the vehicle. The roof section of the body has coffin compartments on it that store 4,000-psi air bottles for the cascade, Haskell air pump, water and ice rescue gear, and the speedi-dry storage hopper. A unique feature of this hopper is that there is a suction hose in the right rear compartment that allows members to fill the storage hopper instead of climbing and hoisting bags of speedi-dry up to the top of the rig. On the upper portion, the vehicle also has rope rescue eyes mounted on it for high angle rescue scenarios.
Rescue 5 is painted white over red on the cab and rescue body. The entire rescue body has roll-up compartment doors. A white reflective stripe runs along the bottom of the cab and then runs diagonally upward on the first compartment and then horizontally across the rest of the compartment towards the rear of the truck. The rescue body also has side recessed awnings on both sides of the apparatus. The front bumper and rear of the rescue body both have s