By Alan M. Petrillo
After September 11, 2001, St. John's County (FL) Fire Rescue acquired a lot of hazmat equipment because it's a state-deployable resource, one of five hazmat teams in its region. But in order to haul all the equipment it needed for hazmat calls, the department used a Ford F-550 pulling a fifth-wheel trailer set up as a hazmat unit, as well as several other vehicles for the equipment overflow. "We wanted to consolidate our hazardous materials response into one resource that could respond to an incident without having a parade moving down the highway," observes Brian Mitzell, the captain of hazmat special operations for St. John's County. "We did a ton of research based on what our needs would be and what we wanted to consolidate in a single vehicle. We found that the tractor-trailer model allowed us the most space and room."
Mitzell says St. John's County Fire Rescue chose VT Hackney Inc. to build the hazmat unit. "The entire process took 18 months before we went to final specs, and we identified Hackney as the best choice to meet our needs," he points out. “We visited other agencies in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina that ran Hackney hazmat vehicles and went with Hackney through our purchasing department and the National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA)—a cooperative purchasing system of vendors available to states and municipalities."
The Hackney hazmat rig for St. John's is a Freightliner M2-112 tractor with seating for four firefighters, powered by a Cummins 370-horsepower engine with a vertical exhaust and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission with a 201-inch wheelbase. The fifth-wheel trailer has a 309.25-inch wheelbase, is 55.6 feet long, and carries a 25-kilowatt power takeoff (PTO) generator with a 100-amp, 240-VAC umbilical connector with the tractor, and a V-MUX multiplexed electrical system with an LCD color control center on the cab console with graphic overhead depiction of open doors, deployed lights, camera tower, and awnings.
The tractor-trailer also has all Whelen LED warning lights, a Whelen Ultra Freedom LED light bar and integrated brow light, eight Whelen LED 12-volt scene lights (three each side, two at rear), two Whelen Max Spot/Flood LED tripod lights on the front, Whelen LED compartment recessed light strips, and a rear backup color camera.
In addition, the hazmat trailer carries a 32-inch LED television/monitor integrated to a low-lux color video camera mounted on top of a Will-Burt NightScan light tower with four FRC 1,500-watt flood lights, a 50-amp shore-power-to-trailer breaker panel and 100-amp transfer switch to power trailer systems from generator or shore power, a WeatherPak push-up pole, two Hannay 240-VAC cord reels with 200 feet of 10/4 yellow cable connection to a four-outlet distribution box with four outlets, a Hannay electric rewind utility air hose reel with 150 feet of 3/8-inch hose, and a 4.4-cubic-foot refrigerator.
Ed Smith, Hackney's director of the emergency vehicles group, says the special requirements that St. John's County Fire Rescue had were "unique, but not unusual." Smith notes, "That's what we designed our hazmat trailer for. They wanted to carry a 4WD all terrain vehicle (ATV) in th