By Chris Mc Loone

Robert Corrigan
Deputy Commissioner Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Deputy Commissioner Robert Corrigan to discuss recent apparatus acquisitions and orders by the Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department (PFD). After our discussion, I had the opportunity to visit Ladder 14, which recently took delivery of one of the city’s brand new tractor-drawn aerials. While speaking with Corrigan, he answered a few questions about the city’s apparatus acquisition program and the challenges he’s faced since being given the responsibility for replacing or upgrading the PFD’s fleet.

Since you were placed in charge of apparatus acquisition, what has been your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge is always funding. Apparatus costs have skyrocketed over the past 10 years for all municipalities, and when a department falls behind in regularly scheduled acquisitions because of recession, it’s even more difficult to catch up. In Philadelphia, our apparatus are purchased by the Office of Fleet Management (OFM), and the PFD has worked to be a better partner with them by developing our own five-year plan of apparatus priorities. This plan allows city leadership to properly assess needs and risk and understand costs. The PFD has also submitted for the maximum allowed for apparatus in AFG grants, $3.4 million. Through the administration proposal for $9.8 million for new apparatus along with our AFG grant request, we believe we are on a solid path to renew our fleet.

In recent years, Philadelphia has used apparatus manufactured by other manufacturers, so the Spartan ER rigs are going to be a new experience for you. What led you to choose Spartan ER as your vendor for the new pumpers?

In Philadelphia, after a specification is written, it goes out to bid. Spartan won the contract, and we have very high hopes for these vehicles. Spartan won’t be a totally new experience; we have very positive history with the vendor, Campbell Supply Company, and are very excited to work with them again. The first two units are on track to be completed ahead of schedule and are expected to be in service this spring.

Talk about the Spartan ER order for the pumpers. Describe the new rigs and how they will differ from current pumpers in Philly’s fleet.

These are pure fire suppression engines, and we took a lot of input from our firefighters on their design. One noticeable feature is a very low (40 inches above the tailboard) hosebed, a direct result of firefighter feedback. Another change is the return to a mounted deck gun, which was not provided on the previous pumper contract. We wanted to allow company officers to have the option of a blitz or exterior attack. Fires now are burning hotter and faster, and more lightweight construction is appearing in our city. All of these reasons necessitated a return to a piped deck gun. After the first two units, we will return to a 10-inch raised roof to provide more headroom for our members. We also have better lighting, taking advantage of new LED technology, and better use of storage space, including a compartment for backboard storage in the pump house.

Talk about the PFD’s apparatus purchasing process.

As I mentioned, Philadelphia’s Office of Fleet Management signs our specifications and budgets and purchases our vehicles. This is a great system for our city; OFM is staffed with seasoned vehicle technicians, and they won’t let us make a mistake regarding the mechanical comp

By Chris Mc Loone

Robert Corrigan
Deputy Commissioner Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Deputy Commissioner Robert Corrigan to discuss recent apparatus acquisitions and orders by the Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department (PFD). After our discussion, I had the opportunity to visit Ladder 14, which recently took delivery of one of the city’s brand new tractor-drawn aerials. While speaking with Corrigan, he answered a few questions about the city’s apparatus acquisition program and the challenges he’s faced since being given the responsibility for replacing or upgrading the PFD’s fleet.

Since you were placed in charge of apparatus acquisition, what has been your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge is always funding. Apparatus costs have skyrocketed over the past 10 years for all municipalities, and when a department falls behind in regularly scheduled acquisitions because of recession, it’s even more difficult to catch up. In Philadelphia, our apparatus are purchased by the Office of Fleet Management (OFM), and the PFD has worked to be a better partner with them by developing our own five-year plan of apparatus priorities. This plan allows city leadership to properly assess needs and risk and understand costs. The PFD has also submitted for the maximum allowed for apparatus in AFG grants, $3.4 million. Through the administration proposal for $9.8 million for new apparatus along with our AFG grant request, we believe we are on a solid path to renew our fleet.

In recent years, Philadelphia has used apparatus manufactured by other manufacturers, so the Spartan ER rigs are going to be a new experience for you. What led you to choose Spartan ER as your vendor for the new pumpers?

In Philadelphia, after a specification is written, it goes out to bid. Spartan won the contract, and we have very high hopes for these vehicles. Spartan won’t be a totally new experience; we have very positive history with the vendor, Campbell Supply Company, and are very excited to work with them again. The first two units are on track to be completed ahead of schedule and are expected to be in service this spring.

Talk about the Spartan ER order for the pumpers. Describe the new rigs and how they will differ from current pumpers in Philly’s fleet.

These are pure fire suppression engines, and we took a lot of input from our firefighters on their design. One noticeable feature is a very low (40 inches above the tailboard) hosebed, a direct result of firefighter feedback. Another change is the return to a mounted deck gun, which was not provided on the previous pumper contract. We wanted to allow company officers to have the option of a blitz or exterior attack. Fires now are burning hotter and faster, and more lightweight construction is appearing in our city. All of these reasons necessitated a return to a piped deck gun. After the first two units, we will return to a 10-inch raised roof to provide more headroom for our members. We also have better lighting, taking advantage of new LED technology, and better use of storage space, including a compartment for backboard storage in the pump house.

Talk about the PFD’s apparatus purchasing process.

As I mentioned, Philadelphia’s Office of Fleet Management signs our specifications and budgets and purchases our vehicles. This is a great system for our city; OFM is staffed with seasoned vehicle technicians, and they won’t let us make a mistake regarding the mechanical comp

By Chris Mc Loone

Robert Corrigan
Deputy Commissioner Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Deputy Commissioner Robert Corrigan to discuss recent apparatus acquisitions and orders by the Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department (PFD). After our discussion, I had the opportunity to visit Ladder 14, which recently took delivery of one of the city’s brand new tractor-drawn aerials. While speaking with Corrigan, he answered a few questions about the city’s apparatus acquisition program and the challenges he’s faced since being given the responsibility for replacing or upgrading the PFD’s fleet.

Since you were placed in charge of apparatus acquisition, what has been your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge is always funding. Apparatus costs have skyrocketed over the past 10 years for all municipalities, and when a department falls behind in regularly scheduled acquisitions because of recession, it’s even more difficult to catch up. In Philadelphia, our apparatus are purchased by the Office of Fleet Management (OFM), and the PFD has worked to be a better partner with them by developing our own five-year plan of apparatus priorities. This plan allows city leadership to properly assess needs and risk and understand costs. The PFD has also submitted for the maximum allowed for apparatus in AFG grants, $3.4 million. Through the administration proposal for $9.8 million for new apparatus along with our AFG grant request, we believe we are on a solid path to renew our fleet.

In recent years, Philadelphia has used apparatus manufactured by other manufacturers, so the Spartan ER rigs are going to be a new experience for you. What led you to choose Spartan ER as your vendor for the new pumpers?

In Philadelphia, after a specification is written, it goes out to bid. Spartan won the contract, and we have very high hopes for these vehicles. Spartan won’t be a totally new experience; we have very positive history with the vendor, Campbell Supply Company, and are very excited to work with them again. The first two units are on track to be completed ahead of schedule and are expected to be in service this spring.

Talk about the Spartan ER order for the pumpers. Describe the new rigs and how they will differ from current pumpers in Philly’s fleet.

These are pure fire suppression engines, and we took a lot of input from our firefighters on their design. One noticeable feature is a very low (40 inches above the tailboard) hosebed, a direct result of firefighter feedback. Another change is the return to a mounted deck gun, which was not provided on the previous pumper contract. We wanted to allow company officers to have the option of a blitz or exterior attack. Fires now are burning hotter and faster, and more lightweight construction is appearing in our city. All of these reasons necessitated a return to a piped deck gun. After the first two units, we will return to a 10-inch raised roof to provide more headroom for our members. We also have better lighting, taking advantage of new LED technology, and better use of storage space, including a compartment for backboard storage in the pump house.

Talk about the PFD’s apparatus purchasing process.

As I mentioned, Philadelphia’s Office of Fleet Management signs our specifications and budgets and purchases our vehicles. This is a great system for our city; OFM is staffed with seasoned vehicle technicians, and they won’t let us make a mistake regarding the mechanical comp

By Chris Daly

I’m sure everyone has had this experience: You are riding shotgun on the way to a call, and you’ve thrown your helmet onto the dashboard so that you can read the map book.

As the fire apparatus operator rounds the curve, your helmet starts to slide across the dashboard and nearly goes out the window before you are able to grab it. That was close; you would have missed a job if you had no helmet to wear. The sneaky culprit that almost stole your helmet was inertia, and it’s another key concept that professional fire apparatus operators must understand.

What most drivers don’t realize is that every curve in the road has what’s called a “critical speed.” If you take the curve faster than this critical speed, your vehicle will break traction and continue in a straight line instead of negotiating the curve. As a result, the vehicle will travel off the road and crash.

Outside Forces

Fire apparatus operators must understand that as we round a curve, there are two major forces working on our vehicle. The “bad” force is centrifugal force, which makes our vehicle want to continue in a straight line off of the roadway. The “good” force is the traction between our tires and the road surface.

As long as we have more traction than centrifugal force, our vehicle will hold the road, and we will make it through the curve-no questions asked. However, when we drive too fast for the road conditions, we allow centrifugal force to overwhelm our tires’ traction. When this happens, the vehicle breaks traction, and we lose control.

The speed at which we lose control depends on three major factors: the radius of the curve (how sharp it is), the coefficient of friction of the roadway (how “sticky” it is), and the superelevation (“bank”) in the road. Problems arise as your speed increases, the sharpness of the curve decreases, or the stickiness of the road decreases with bad weather.

When you think about it, the curve and bank in the road will never change; however, the stickiness of the road will change based on the weather. As the road gets slicker with rain, snow, or ice, the critical speed of the curve will go down.

Critical Speed of a Curve

Let’s go back to the example of your fire helmet. As the fire truck rounds the curve, the traction of the tires on the dry road surface is more than the centrifugal force trying to make the fire truck continue in a straight line. In this case, the fire truck maintains traction with the road and safely negotiates the curve. However, your plastic helmet is resting on a freshly polished, vinyl dashboard. The “stickiness” that is keeping the helmet from sliding around is considerably less than the stickiness between the tires and the road. In this case, the centrifugal force experienced as the vehicle rounds the curve is more than the coefficient of friction between your helmet and the dashboard. As a result, your helmet breaks traction with the dashboard and tries to keep traveling in a straight line, attempting to exit the window.

The reason for this can be shown scientifically. To figure out the critical speed of a curve, you need only three things: the radius of the curve, the coefficient of friction of the roadway, and the superelevation of the road. By plugging these three values into the following formula, we are able to calculate the critical speed of a curve.

3.86 √ R × (f ± e)

“R” is the radius of the curve. The roadway’s coefficient of friction is represented by “f,” and “e” is superelevation of the roadway.

As