By Alan M. Petrillo

The Troy (NY) Fire Department is responding to incidents on and along the upper Hudson River with its new Stanley 32-foot high-speed fire-rescue boat.

Eric McMahon, Troy Fire Department's assistant chief, says that the department applied for and received a Port Security Grant that made the purchase of the fire-rescue boat possible. "We put out our specifications that stated we wanted a boat with a bow-mounted door," McMahon says, and the department received a quote from Stanley, which won the contract."

The Stanley fire-rescue boat is 32 feet long with a 10-foot beam, a 10,640-pound displacement, and drawing 19½ inches unloaded and 21 inches loaded. The boat is powered by twin 250-horsepower Yamaha 250XCA outboard engines and carries a Darley PSDE 1,500-gpm pump powered by a KEM 6-liter marinized gasoline engine.

Douglas Coupar, sales representative for Connor Industries, which owns Stanley, says that Troy wanted a dedicated gasoline engine to power the fire pump as well as a fully enclosed wheelhouse to protect the operator and crew from the elements. He notes that the wheelhouse is climate-controlled by a Dometic Dura Sea rooftop air conditioning unit which has a 1,000-watt heating option installed for cold-weather operations.

McMahon points out that the fire-rescue boat can accommodate eight persons, and that its wheelhouse is protected by HEPA filters and is pressurized to keep smoke and toxins out. "As part of the specs, we had folding benches installed in the wheelhouse, so we have the ability to carry two critically injured patients on backboards inside," he says. "And with the drop-down bow door, we are able to walk the injured patients off the boat and directly onto land."

The drop-down bow door also allows the department to lay the door down and run 5-inch LDH off the fireboat and onto shore "to use the fireboat as an endless water supply if needed," McMahon says. "In front of the wheelhouse, there's a Christmas tree with a 5-inch discharge, four 2½-inch discharges with reducers, topped off by a Task Force Tips Typhoon monitor with a fog nozzle and stacked tips. One of the requirements of the Port Security Grant was that the boat have foam capabilities, so it was spec’d to hold a 300-gallon foam tote, and we have a 250-gpm foam eductor to proportion the foam."

Troy's fire-rescue boat also serves as a dive boat, McMahon notes, as the department had two dive platforms added to the back of the vessel. The Stanley-built boat also has a grounding keel that allows the boat to be eased up to shore to allow it to drop its bow gate.

Coupar points out that the fire-rescue boat has two push knees, one on each side of the bow door, that are useful when an operator needs to hold the boat stable against an object. "They might be against a bridge abutment or some other type of object where they need to hold the boat," he says. "The operator pushes against the abutment with the push knees, lowers the gate, and the boat stays rock-steady, even in a heavy current, because the operator is using engine power to push against the object."

The Troy fire-rescue boat also has Pump-Boss 200 marine controls, a 6-kW Westbrook marine generator, two 12-inch Garmin touchscreen monitors, a Garmin VHF 110 marine radio, a Garmin GMR 18HD Radome radar, and a FLIR M324S night vision camera. Emergency lighting includes a Wh

The pumper is built on a Pierce Impel® cab and chassis. It features a Pierce PUC 1,500-gpm pump, a Husky™ 12 foam syatem, a 740-gallon water tank, and a 30-gallon foam tank. 

WOODLANDS, Texas (Houston Chronicle) - The Woodlands Fire Department’s newest truck has not been put into use yet as department staff learn how to drive the double-cabbed vehicle, but Fire Chief Alan Benson said he and other leaders at the department are excited to have the new truck added to their fleet.

The new truck, a Pierce Ascendant 107-foot Tiller fire truck built on top of a Velocity chassis, holds 300 gallons of water and is equipped with a 1,250 gallon per minute water pump and is equipped with a heavy-duty, steel Ascendant ladder with reach measuring 107 feet vertically and 100 feet horizontally.

The truck cost about $1.4 million and was approved for purchase by the township board in December 2016. The truck was delivered to the township in January. The truck was customized by township officials, including purchasing the largest motor available for any fire truck. The department traded in another vehicle in order to reduce the cost, Benson noted.

The truck is not in service yet as firefighters are learning how to operate the various components and also how to drive it. The new truck has a second steering apparatus in the rear cab, which is called in fire department language a “tiller.”

“We’re getting ready to put it into service, it is not here now,” Benson said. “It’s one of those ‘old-style’ trucks. We’ve been doing extensive (training). The tiller is very important — the coordination between the tiller and the (front driver). It actually has a 22-degree swing on the back end. You better know what you’re doing or you’re going to take out a lot of mailboxes.”

Benson also said that for the last four months, department officials have been doing extensive driver training and qualifying for both the rear cab, or tiller, drivers and our regular drivers on the vehicle.

“We’re not going to put it until we have the adequate training and expertise to do it right,” Benson added.

Deputy Fire Chief Doug Adams, of The Woodlands Fire Department, said the vehicle is also called a tractor-drawn aerial fire truck and is more than 61 feet long and has a capacity to hold up to seven firefighters, but normally a crew of four is on the vehicle for fire calls.

“You have a steering wheel in the front and the back,” Adams said of the new truck. “It is our tallest ladder (now). Despite the length of the truck, it’s maneuverability is comparable or exceeds that of our smaller engines because you’re able to articulate into tighter spaces. It really increases what we call the ‘scrub area’ and how much of the area of the building where we can actually get the ladder to.”

Adams said the new truck is a major upgrade for the department that can be used for fighting fires at homes, businesses and for other high-rise incidents at some of the towers across the township.

“It improves our capabilities. It improves our ‘scrub angle,’ improves our access, and it really improves our reach, not only vertically, but horizontally,” Adams said. “We may have a house with a big set back, that extra 7 feet (of ladder length) can make a huge difference.”

Benson said the larger ‘scrub area,’ defined as where water can be sprayed by firefighters, helps if an incident happens at the 30-story Anadarko Tower or other high rise buildings in the township.

“It increases the distance and height of areas where you can access areas of the building. The closer you are to the building, the more height you can get,” Benson explained.

As The Woodlands continues to grow and taller structures are possibly constructed, the fire department has continued to add vehicles and equipment like the new “tiller” fire truck helps fight fires anywhere in the township, Benson explained.

“It’ll go

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