By Alan M. Petrillo

Aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) trucks have grown in size and equipment-carrying power over the years. ARFF manufacturers have come out with new designs to meet customer demand and refined existing designs to be able to do more within the same truck footprint.

Oshkosh Airport Products

Sam Lowe, senior marketing representative for Oshkosh Airport Products, says Oshkosh unveiled a new Striker™ 8x8 ARFF vehicle this year, completely redesigned and featuring a pair of rear-mounted engines driving all eight wheels. “The change is an entirely new truck,” Lowe says. “A significant change is that the frame and cab are the same as the ones we use on our 4x4 and 6x6 Striker models, which provides a commonality for airport fire departments.”

The change to dual engines at the rear of the vehicle, Lowe says, complicates gauges in the cab, so Oshkosh installs an LCD dashboard display in the 8x8 where the left side of the display shows the driver’s side engine information, and the right the engine on the officer’s side. “All of our ARFF vehicles can now be specified with Scania’s DC16 engine in horsepower up to 770,” Lowe points out. “Scania Tier 4 Final engines deliver excellent performance without the need for particulate filters, which is especially beneficial in colder climates and situations where engine regeneration is not practical, such as airport emergency response.” Lowe adds that Oshkosh ARFF rigs also are available with Deutz engines.

1 Oshkosh Airport Products redesigned its Striker™ 8x8 ARFF truck, giving it two engines at the rear. (Photo courtesy of Oshkosh Airport Products.)

Lowe says that a compartment above the 8x8’s front axle was moved to the third axle, allowing Oshkosh engineers to push the vehicle’s water tank forward. “It helps with the weight distribution on the vehicle,” he observes, “because we have a lot of weight in the rear with two diesel engines.” Each engine is mated with its own Allison transmission along with Oshkosh’s Power Uniter, which takes power from both engines and powers all eight wheels. The operator can switch to pump and roll at any speed, Lowe notes, where one engine drives the wheels and the other the Waterous pump’s fire suppression system.

The Strikers have the option of carrying a high-reach extendable turret (HRET) Snozzle with a piercing nozzle. “We offer K-Factor, an LCD readout in the cab for aligning the 65-foot Snozzle’s piercing attachment,” Lowe says. “It can be hard to see the tip, so K-Factor scans the fuselage to be pierced, finds a perpendicular spot to pierce, displays it on the screen, and the operator moves the joystick to match the view. K-Factor is available on all our Strikers.”

Rosenbauer

Steve Reedy, vice president of Rosenbauer, says the company has redesigned its 4x4 and 6x6 Panther™ ARFF models, making major changes in the cab and windshield areas of the rigs. “We reduced the size of the main A and B pillars and increased the size of the windshield by adding more glass to the sides,” Reedy says. “We also have a combination glass and aluminum tubing door on the Panther. Once we got greater visibility by adding more glass, we felt the need to get the cab crash tested, which we did, and it meets all United States and European crash test standards.”

Reedy says the Panthers also carry a new Rosenbauer

Chris Mc Loone

Firefighters and fire departments are thieves. It’s true. They will blatantly steal a good idea when they see it.

That’s not to say they will claim credit for the good idea, but they will quickly steal it if it works. It could be an apparatus design, a new piece of equipment, a new training evolution - anything if it is good for the department. It’s even better when a fire department takes an idea and ends up improving it in ways the originator didn’t conceptualize. That’s what the fire service is all about.

So, it’s not a bad thing that fire departments steal from each other. Or, maybe emulate each other is a better way of describing it. But, it’s an important aspect of the fire service because if you emulate or steal an idea and don’t adapt it to your department’s deployment methods, there will be repercussions when you design the rig.

I’m no stranger to stealing ideas. Through the years, I’ve traveled to trade shows and I’ve certainly taken my fair share of pictures of fire apparatus, the way equipment is mounted, the locations of the equipment, how cabs are configured, etc. But, forwarding along such pictures has always carried a caveat that it might not work for our current truck or future truck, and we need to look at things first before jumping in.

This is why this month’s article by Bill Adams, “Apparatus Purchasing: FDNY-Style Hosebeds,” is so important. Although it refers to a specific hosebed style, its caveats cross all aspects of apparatus design. It’s not only about hosebeds - it’s a cautionary piece that transcends spec’ing hosebeds.

There is a give and take with almost every item on an apparatus spec. Some are simple. To reduce wheelbase, for example, you’re probably going to have to narrow the pump panel or reduce your compartment space. Going with a walk-in vs. walk-around rescue will cost you compartment space as well. Adding more compartments and, therefore, more weight through increased equipment may cause you to go from a single axle to a tandem axle - often increasing a rig’s length. And certainly, there are many decisions made that require the rear hosebed to be higher than some would prefer.

Beyond tradeoffs, what Adams explains is that you really need to know what it is you’re asking for, and simply asking for an FDNY style or low-hosebed style doesn’t really define what you are asking for. Unless an apparatus manufacturer specifically has a low-hosebed configuration option that details length, height, cubic footage, etc., then a fire department must be ready to provide its own definition of what a low-hosebed style is. Otherwise, it is extremely likely that it will get a truck that isn’t exactly what the department expected or wanted. Additionally, simply spec’ing a hosebed in use by another department means that you’re assuming that you will use the same amount and type of hose packed the same way as the department you are emulating.

Ultimately, thievery among fire departments isn’t a bad thing - provided, of course, they’re not stealing equipment from each other. The fire service’s success is predicated on improving on the past, mastering the present, and looking to the future. There will always be a better or more efficient way to do something, provided that however your department decides to do something more efficiently, members practice it often. There’s nothing wrong with adopting something from another department as long as it fits your first due and allows you to provide expert service.

Read more

• 200
• 0
• Article rating: No rating