Alan M. Petrillo
The city of Washington, North Carolina, had a 1982 beverage-style truck that had been refurbished into a medium rescue a number of years ago, but the vehicle was showing its age and needed replacement. Fortunately, the city was able to secure a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to replace the unit and set about performing a needs assessment to determine the amount and kinds of equipment it should carry and developing specifications for the rig.
Robbie Rose, chief of Washington (NC) Fire-Rescue-EMS, says he and his truck committee of five, led by Captain R.M. Flowers, along with the city's purchasing agent had a number of rescue truck manufacturers make presentations to them about their vehicles and what might be done for the department. But in the end, Rose says the contract for the medium rescue it wanted to purchase went to VT Hackney, the company that not only refurbished the former beverage truck but also has its production facilities a mile down the road from the department's main station. "Hackney was the low bidder on the rescue truck and they started building it in August of last year," he says. "We took delivery on December 13, 2012."
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(1) The medium rescue that Hackney built for Washington (NC) Fire-Rescue-
EMS is on a Kenworth T370 chassis with two-person cab and an all-
aluminum body with compartments protected by roll-up doors. (Photos
courtesy of Hackney.)
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Copious Amounts of Space
Jonathan Hardin, a lieutenant who served on the truck committee, says the most compelling element of the Hackney rescue truck is the amount of space it offers. "Hackney uses a drop-pinch frame that allows for a lot more space in the body area," he says. "And, they also added more features on their rescue when compared to the other bidders."
Rose points out that the rescue's serviceability was another main concern for the department. "We made it a part of our bid package that we wanted a service center within a one-hour drive of our area," Rose says. "Hackney certainly fulfilled that requirement, and the truck is very user-friendly with easy accessibility to all the equipment. That drop-pinch frame design drops the truck low enough so we can reach everything in the compartments."
Eddie L. Smith, director of Hackney's emergency vehicles group, says, "Our claim to fame is our drop-pinch frame that increases storage capacity on a vehicle. In this case, we were able to get 25 percent more storage space on the truck than if we had used a standard frame."
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(2) The Hackney-built medium rescue has a cribbing compartment at the left rear
of the truck, protected by restraint doors inside of a roll-up door to prevent
damage caused by cribbing shifting during a tight turn.
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Smith says that the compartment space on the Washington Fire rescue is 42 inches deep, compared with the average 24- or 25-inch-deep compartments on a typical rescue using a standard frame. "Also, with our frame, we were able to make this a much longer vehicle and still keep it on a single axle," he adds.
The Washington Fire rescue has a wheelbase of 239¼ inches, an overall length of 34 feet 3¾ inches, and an overall height of 10 feet, six inches.
Multiresponse Unit
Smith notes that Washin