The Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department (PGFD) is one of the largest combination fire departments in the country, comprising close to 1,000 career firefighters and paramedics and 1,000 volunteer firefighters.
They operate out of 45 fire stations with station and apparatus ownership mixed between the career department and the volunteer corporations. This unique system allows for a number of rigs to be purchased through a number of manufacturers and builders. And with some of the volunteer corporations dating back to 1886, it allows for some rather storied rigs to have been purchased and have seen service within the county. While there are a number of unique units within the department that have served the county, we will look at some of the past tiller trucks the departments have owned and then take a dive into the career fire department’s recent purchase of tiller trucks—a trend that is spreading across the country now more than ever as departments are making the decision to purchase tillered rigs for their communities.
LEGACY RIGS AND PLANNING FOR NEW TILLERS
There are many storied tiller trucks in Prince George’s County owned by the volunteer corporations—some of them even have wooden aerial ladders on them. And, they served their response areas with great maneuverability and capabilities for tight streets, urban sprawl, and many apartment projects across the county. The varying manufacturers also brought uniqueness to each of these rigs. The county career department, which was founded in 1971, did not actually purchase rigs from the manufacturers brand new until 2021. Most of the tiller trucks that were owned by the county were purchased from the volunteer corporations, repainted, and put into the reserve fleet. The fire department shop also put together some tiller rigs by marrying different trailers and tractors together to make rigs ready for service in the reserve fleet or for extended stay in front-line service. There were certainly some very interesting combinations during that time period, and they each had their own stories to tell.
1 The Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department took delivery of this Pierce Ascendant 107-foot tractor-drawn aerial with an Enforcer tractor cab in 2022. (Photos by author.)
2 Prior to this recent purchase, many legacy tillers were purchased from the volunteer corporations, repainted, and put into the reserve fleet.
As early as 2019, the department started looking at the feasibility of purchasing tiller trucks for the county fleet as the county continues to add commercial developments, housing projects, large planned communities, and town centers based around public transportation stops. The design and density of many of these newly built population centers place maximum living units and retail centers, all in a tightly packed square footage, making access to these structures challenging based on small streets and parking garages as a center core. A combination of close street parking to front doors and setbacks created a number of positioning problems for truck companies to make access and obtain a good scrub surface.
While working with the department budget and collecting data to support the decision, we also needed to factor in dedicated staffing levels that would ensure fireground tasks could be completed while assigning two drivers to the apparatus. Choosing which stations would receive the new tiller rigs was based on the density of their response areas; analysis of street widths; proper staffing levels; and a review of historical responses into are