By Grady North

It’s no secret that fire apparatus are becoming more multifunctional as budgets and personnel allocations decline - combining rescue trucks with pumpers (rescue-pumpers) or pumpers with aerials (quints).

However, one area that is often overlooked is the increasing amount of equipment that is carried on the apparatus and the effect this has on vehicle weight.

Additional Weight Ramifications

It is easy to add a rescue tool to the front bumper tray or put some air bags and cribbing in a compartment - just a few hundred pounds extra here and there. Later come some self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) bottle racks and maybe tool boards. Before you know it, a few hundred pounds become several thousand pounds.

NFPA 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus, has made provisions for estimating sample equipment and hose in-service weight allowances on a fire apparatus. It also spells out the purchaser’s responsibility for determining specifically what the correct equipment and hose weight allowance should be on its particular apparatus. Specifically, NFPA 1901 states:

12.1.1: The manufacturer shall establish the estimated in-service weight during the design of the fire apparatus.

12.1.2: The estimated in-service weight shall include the following:

1. The chassis, body, and tank(s).
2. Full fuel, lubricant, and other chassis or component fluid tanks or reservoirs.
3. Full water and other agent tanks.
4. * 250 pounds (114 kg) in each seating position.
5. Fixed equipment such as pumps, aerial devices, generators, reels, and air systems as installed.
6. Ground ladders, suction hose, and designed hose loads in their hosebeds and on their reels.
7. An allowance for miscellaneous equipment that is the greatest of the values shown in Table 12.1.2, a purchaser-provided list of equipment to be carried with weights, or a purchaser-specified miscellaneous equipment allowance.

12.1.3: The manufacturer shall engineer and design the fire apparatus such that the completed apparatus, when loaded to its estimated in-service weight with all movable weights distributed as close as is practical to their intended in-service configuration, does not exceed the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR).

12.1.4: A final manufacturer’s certification of the GVWR or gross combined weight rating (GCWR), along with a certification of each gross axle weight rating (GAWR), shall be supplied on a label affixed to the vehicle.

* The 250 pounds (114 kg) in each seating position does not include the weight of SCBA and tools carried by a firefighter.

Miscellaneous Equipment Allowance

Table 12.1.2 spells out the miscellaneous equipment allowance for all types of apparatus, from initial attack to tankers to quints. For simplicity, let’s look at pumpers. There are two categories.

The apparatus manufacturer can tell you the total capacity of the compartment arrangement you have selected in cubic feet. If you do not inform

By Grady North

It’s no secret that fire apparatus are becoming more multifunctional as budgets and personnel allocations decline - combining rescue trucks with pumpers (rescue-pumpers) or pumpers with aerials (quints).

However, one area that is often overlooked is the increasing amount of equipment that is carried on the apparatus and the effect this has on vehicle weight.

Additional Weight Ramifications

It is easy to add a rescue tool to the front bumper tray or put some air bags and cribbing in a compartment - just a few hundred pounds extra here and there. Later come some self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) bottle racks and maybe tool boards. Before you know it, a few hundred pounds become several thousand pounds.

NFPA 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus, has made provisions for estimating sample equipment and hose in-service weight allowances on a fire apparatus. It also spells out the purchaser’s responsibility for determining specifically what the correct equipment and hose weight allowance should be on its particular apparatus. Specifically, NFPA 1901 states:

12.1.1: The manufacturer shall establish the estimated in-service weight during the design of the fire apparatus.

12.1.2: The estimated in-service weight shall include the following:

1. The chassis, body, and tank(s).
2. Full fuel, lubricant, and other chassis or component fluid tanks or reservoirs.
3. Full water and other agent tanks.
4. * 250 pounds (114 kg) in each seating position.
5. Fixed equipment such as pumps, aerial devices, generators, reels, and air systems as installed.
6. Ground ladders, suction hose, and designed hose loads in their hosebeds and on their reels.
7. An allowance for miscellaneous equipment that is the greatest of the values shown in Table 12.1.2, a purchaser-provided list of equipment to be carried with weights, or a purchaser-specified miscellaneous equipment allowance.

12.1.3: The manufacturer shall engineer and design the fire apparatus such that the completed apparatus, when loaded to its estimated in-service weight with all movable weights distributed as close as is practical to their intended in-service configuration, does not exceed the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR).

12.1.4: A final manufacturer’s certification of the GVWR or gross combined weight rating (GCWR), along with a certification of each gross axle weight rating (GAWR), shall be supplied on a label affixed to the vehicle.

* The 250 pounds (114 kg) in each seating position does not include the weight of SCBA and tools carried by a firefighter.

Miscellaneous Equipment Allowance

Table 12.1.2 spells out the miscellaneous equipment allowance for all types of apparatus, from initial attack to tankers to quints. For simplicity, let’s look at pumpers. There are two categories.

The apparatus manufacturer can tell you the total capacity of the compartment arrangement you have selected in cubic feet. If you do not inform

By Grady North

It’s no secret that fire apparatus are becoming more multifunctional as budgets and personnel allocations decline - combining rescue trucks with pumpers (rescue-pumpers) or pumpers with aerials (quints).

However, one area that is often overlooked is the increasing amount of equipment that is carried on the apparatus and the effect this has on vehicle weight.

Additional Weight Ramifications

It is easy to add a rescue tool to the front bumper tray or put some air bags and cribbing in a compartment - just a few hundred pounds extra here and there. Later come some self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) bottle racks and maybe tool boards. Before you know it, a few hundred pounds become several thousand pounds.

NFPA 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus, has made provisions for estimating sample equipment and hose in-service weight allowances on a fire apparatus. It also spells out the purchaser’s responsibility for determining specifically what the correct equipment and hose weight allowance should be on its particular apparatus. Specifically, NFPA 1901 states:

12.1.1: The manufacturer shall establish the estimated in-service weight during the design of the fire apparatus.

12.1.2: The estimated in-service weight shall include the following:

1. The chassis, body, and tank(s).
2. Full fuel, lubricant, and other chassis or component fluid tanks or reservoirs.
3. Full water and other agent tanks.
4. * 250 pounds (114 kg) in each seating position.
5. Fixed equipment such as pumps, aerial devices, generators, reels, and air systems as installed.
6. Ground ladders, suction hose, and designed hose loads in their hosebeds and on their reels.
7. An allowance for miscellaneous equipment that is the greatest of the values shown in Table 12.1.2, a purchaser-provided list of equipment to be carried with weights, or a purchaser-specified miscellaneous equipment allowance.

12.1.3: The manufacturer shall engineer and design the fire apparatus such that the completed apparatus, when loaded to its estimated in-service weight with all movable weights distributed as close as is practical to their intended in-service configuration, does not exceed the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR).

12.1.4: A final manufacturer’s certification of the GVWR or gross combined weight rating (GCWR), along with a certification of each gross axle weight rating (GAWR), shall be supplied on a label affixed to the vehicle.

* The 250 pounds (114 kg) in each seating position does not include the weight of SCBA and tools carried by a firefighter.

Miscellaneous Equipment Allowance

Table 12.1.2 spells out the miscellaneous equipment allowance for all types of apparatus, from initial attack to tankers to quints. For simplicity, let’s look at pumpers. There are two categories.

The apparatus manufacturer can tell you the total capacity of the compartment arrangement you have selected in cubic feet. If you do not inform

By Alan M. Petrillo

As more development in western states continues in heavily timbered areas, the need for wildland urban interface (WUI) fire apparatus increases.

The confluence of higher densities of populated structures in forested areas presents fire departments with challenges not faced in typical wildland fire scenarios. The Insurance Information Institute reports that during the first three months of this year, wildfires in the United States increased by 240 percent over the same period in 2016. Manufacturers are responding to these challenges by building fire apparatus designed to meet the WUI needs of departments to allow them to handle the sometimes conflicting missions of structural protection and wildland firefighting.

1 HME, Inc., makes WUI engines for some customers that are Type 3 engines with some elements of Type 1 rigs with, for instance, a 500-gallon water tank and a 1,000-gpm two-stage pump. (Photos 1 and 2 courtesy of HME, Inc.)

Type 1, Type 3, or Both

2 Many Type 6 wildland vehicles that HME builds are upsizing the pumps on their rigs, with some carrying a 1,500-gpm midship pump in addition to a 150-gpm auxiliary diesel pump for pump and roll.

Ken Lenz, vice president of engineering for HME Inc., says that some wildland and urban interface customers are trying to expand the capabilities of the Type 3 engines they order. “Typically, a Type 3 has a 500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) two-stage pump on it, but a lot of these departments are asking for a 1,000-gpm pump,” Lenz says, “with the idea that they want a dual-purpose engine that can handle both wildland fires and structural fires. So, I think we’re going to see a blending of Type 3 and Type 1 engines in the future as a way of satisfying departments that want a rig that can meet both types of fires.”

3 Rosenbauer built this Type 1 short-wheelbase WUI engine with Type 3 attributes for the Amador (CA) Fire Protection District. (Photo courtesy of Rosenbauer.)

Doug Feldman, western region sales manager for Rosenbauer, notes that Rosenbauer is seeing a trend toward more four-wheel-drive WUI apparatus as well as Type 3 engines with Type 1 characteristics. “Departments want to be able to respond to wildland fires but also to be able to use the vehicle for regular fire calls. They want an all-purpose vehicle that can go out on a wildland strike team but also work in the city or WUI for structure protection.” Feldman cites Rose