The Sidney (NY) Fire Department had a 1980 tanker with no pump that Chief John Gilmore says, “was getting old and tired and needed to be replaced.” When the department also considered that it had a 12-year old pumper sitting in the barn most of the time because of low staffing issues, it decided to replace that rig, too.
“We had a 1989 tanker on a commercial chassis with a 1,400-gallon water tank and no pump,” observes Gilmore. “And, we also had a 2014 pumper with a 1,250-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump and a 1,000-gallon water tank that was not used very much because of low (staffing) issues. We decided to combine replacement of the two vehicles into a single new apparatus, worked on the specs, and came up with a pumper-tanker that could be handled by two firefighters, and also reduce our fleet by one truck.”
The Sidney pumper-tanker has a Hale Qmax 1,500-gpm midship pump with two heaters in the pump module, a UPF Poly 2,000-gallon water tank, and FRC TankVision Pro water level gauges.
The Sidney Fire Department has 50 volunteer firefighters responding out of a single station protecting the 5,000 residents of the village of Sidney, parts of the town of Sidney in Delaware County, and the town of Unadilla in Otsego County, Gilmore says.
Sidney’s other apparatus include two pumpers with 1,500-gpm pumps and 750-gallon water tanks, an 85-foot aerial platform with a 1,500-gpm pump and a 300-gallon water tank, an F-550 brush truck outfitted with a skid unit, and an F-350 utility truck that’s used for rope rescue work and rapid intervention team (RIT) response.
The rear of the pumper-tanker has a Newton 10-inch stainless steel dump valve with a 36-inch telescoping chute that swivels 180 degrees and a 4-inch Fireman’s Friend direct tank fill valve.
“We wanted to stay with a single-axle truck, maintain at least a 1,250-gpm pump, and a 2,000-gallon water tank so that the new vehicle would not change our Insurance Services Office rating of ISO 3,” Gilmore says. “The village has a hydrant system, but outside the village we have to bring water, head to the rivers, or find private sites for water sources, so this new rig would be primarily a tanker for us.”
Philip Vander Molen, president of Vander Molen Fire Apparatus Sales & Service, who sold the rig to Sidney Fire Department, says the pumper-tanker was built by Fort Garry Fire Trucks on a Freightliner M2 112 t