OCALA, F—E-ONE, a subsidiary of REV Group and a manufacturer of fire apparatus, has announced the delivery of seven new custom eMAX® rescue-pumpers to Polk County Fire Rescue in Bartow, Florida.

“Polk County Fire Rescue is very excited to receive these units into our fleet of emergency response apparatus,” said Polk County Fire Chief Tony Stravino. “They have been designed to provide fire protection, emergency and ALS service by an internal apparatus committee of firefighters, officers as well as county fleet mechanics.”

Top features of these pumpers include:

• Extruded aluminum body with low hose bed
• Typhoon® long cab with 67.5” CA
• Full height/full depth rescue style driver and officer side compartments
• Driver side roof top compartment including enclosed storage for two 6” x 10’ hard suction hoses 
• Recessed Zico® overhead ladder rack for 24’ and 14’ ladders
• Rear storage tunnel for 10′ ladder and (3) pike poles
• eMAX® 1,500 GPM low profile split shaft pump with 5” front intake
• 780 gallon UPF® Poly III tank (750 Water/20 Foam/10 Foam)
• Top mount pump operator’s panel with narrow side panels for maximum body compartment storage and driver/operator safety
• Double speed lays with removable hose trays
• Backboard storage under the cross walk
• Cummins® ISL 450 HP engine with Jacobs® compression brake and Allison® EVS3000P transmission
• Weldon® V-MUX® Multiplex electrical system with dual Vista IV displays and driver side, officer side and rear Safety Vision cameras

“We are looking forward to many years of outstanding performance serving our citizens, businesses and visitors to Polk County,” continues Chief Stravino. “These additions are a direct result of the County Manager’s office and our Board of County Commissioners having a vision and commitment to public safety and I personally thank them for their ongoing support.”

 “These trucks boast extra-large 60” wide full depth front compartments and narrow 22” wide pump panel with top mount design for a shorter wheelbase, while meeting all the requirements of the fire department,” said Amey Kelkar, E-ONE Product Manager for Pumpers and Tankers. “This demonstrates E-ONE’s continued efforts to build fire trucks that are innovative and meet each department’s unique needs.” 

To learn more about E-ONE visit www.e-one.com.

Upper Flat Creek, North Carolina (The Weaverville Tribune) – Several fire department vehicles are stranded after a private bridge off on Upper Flat Creek Road collapsed while a fire department truck was crossing it. The incident happened after several fire departments responded to a house fire around 12:47 am on Sunday. The home, which was a cabin, was a total loss.

Currently, seven fire vehicles are stranded on the other side of the bridge and one, a Reynolds Fire Department four-wheel drive truck is partly on the collapsed bridge. Weaverville Fire Department has five vehicles trapped, while Reems Creek Fire Department has two. No one in the fire truck was injured. One person from the house fire was transported to the hospital with burns.

According to Weaverville Fire Chief Ted Williams who was one the scene Sunday morning while efforts were underway to remove the vehicle from its precarious position on the fallen bridge were still underway. Weaverville Fire Department was the lead department on the call.

By Alan M. Petrillo

Ho-Ho-Kus (NJ) Volunteer Fire Department was looking to replace an aging 75-foot rear-mount aerial ladder with a unit that would give them a lot more horizontal reach and also much more equipment storage space. Its existing aerial, a 1993 unit, was approaching 25 years in service and was costing the department money and continuing maintenance to keep it operating properly.

Keith Rosazza, Ho-Ho-Kus's chief, says, "The truck committee performed great due diligence. We brought in every manufacturer with a product that fit our needs, and we looked at all the options they had to offer." Rosazza notes that the department didn't want a platform because there are a number of platforms available to Ho-Ho-Kus from mutual aid departments. "We wanted a rear-mount ladder that would give us extended horizontal reach, because that's an area where we fell short, especially with all the homes in our district that are set back from the roads."

Ho-Ho-Kus decided that the KME 109-foot AerialCat™ was the vehicle that would be the answer to its needs. "The 109 is a good match for us," Rosazza says. "It has the reach we wanted, and the storage capacity is great because we expected to do more with this truck. We had taken on additional missions like rope rescue and mass decon as part of a task force, and didn't have enough compartment space on the [old truck] so we had to shelve equipment and put it on a pickup truck if it was needed."

Tim Besser, northeast regional accounts manager for KME, says the department "wanted the flexibility of a quint with the storage capacity of a straight ladder company, so it was a challenge to get those components together in one unit." The vehicle built for Ho-Ho-Kus has a 1,250-gpm Hale pump, a 300-gallon water tank, two 1¾-inch full-width crosslays in the front bumper, a transverse compartment over the pump house, and 216 feet of ground ladders in a torque box compartment.

The rig has a 100-inch wide Severe Service LFD flat-roof cab with seating for eight firefighters and is powered by a 600-hp Cummins ISX15 engine, and an Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission. Wheelbase on the AerialCat is 244 inches, overall length is 42 feet 3 inches, and overall height is 11 feet 6 inches.

The AerialCat carries two 35-foot two-section extension ladders, two 28-foot two-section extension ladders, one 24-foot two-section extension ladder, two 16-foot roof ladders, two folding ladders, and one 18-foot roof ladder (mounted on the side of the fly of the aerial).

Rosazza says the department has many homes in its district that are set back and have limited rear access where the land drops off at the back of the house, essentially making a three-story structure. "We wanted to carry every available ladder to the scene on our truck in case we couldn't get the aerial to the house and had to use ground ladders," he notes. "In order to get all those ladders on the truck, we eliminated the plumbing from the pump to the aerial waterway, which allowed us to put two additional ladders in the torque box compartment. When we use the aerial waterway, we roll out a 50-foot section of hose to the rear of the truck."

Besser points out that the transverse co