Editor’s Note: There is more to compartmentation on a new rig than picking compartment sizes and picturing where equipment will go. Often, once you mount the equipment, you discover you don’t have as much space as you thought. Editorial Advisory Board members Bill Adams and Ricky Riley draw on their experiences specing rigs and offer their thoughts on using compartment space wisely.
Compartmentation
In designing your apparatus, there are many choices that must be made. These include many large components such as engine, transmission, pump type, and size, etc. Depending on your department’s operational needs, a few of these choices can affect the body size and type you will be getting on the rig. Even choices of low hosebeds, discharges, and intakes coming off the rear can influence body styles.
These body styles have the compartments attached to them, and they require your time and attention. This attention starts with the department’s determination of what equipment it needs to carry to accomplish its job in its community and response area. And then, how will it be carried and accessed during these incidents? During the specification process and the engineering conference is the time to determine what compartment style will be needed on the apparatus.
COMPARTMENT DESIGNS
In early designs of apparatus I was associated with, designing compartments was not an option or was frowned on by manufacturers. And, the cost associated with a special design was usually astronomical and hard to swallow for the tools or equipment that it was being made for. In recent years, the design of body compartments on apparatus in my part of the world has been increasingly custom based on the department’s needs for storing and removing equipment. The cost of some of these compartment designs has come down by the majority of the manufacturers. But, make no mistake—it still costs money to have these body compartments made nonstandard and then customized for the department’s equipment layout.
Some of the decisions on compartments will need to focus on the weight of what will be carried in them. Depending on the type of apparatus you are buying, such as a ladder truck or heavy rescue, these compartments may need to have the floors or the structure holding the compartments beefed up or reinforced. The weight of some of the equipment can cause it to bounce on the floors or shelves. This bouncing without the reinforcement could cause damage to the compartments.
Also consider how the components of the apparatus, such as water tanks, piping, frame rails, and other components, might intrude in your compartment area. A clean, square compartment is rare because of the way the bodies are mounted around these things and manufacturers making use of available space. At the engineering conference, ask questions about what is being mounted in each compartment that might impact the usable space of the compartment. This includes shelving track; supports for back wall stiffening; and items such as battery conditioners, plugs, and electrical panels. All these take up space in your compartment and can make getting your equipment in sometimes difficult, although computer drawings and accurate equipment dimensions can help ensure items wi