November 5, 2024 | 1 ET

In an era where fire departments are increasingly challenged to achieve more with fewer resources, securing grant funding is essential. With over $250 billion in federal grants and an additional $200 billion from state and private sources available in 2025, the opportunities are vast—if approached with the right strategy. This webcast will focus on how departments can develop long-term funding strategies that align with their operational goals and build lasting relationships with grantors and private funding sources in their communities. We’ll discuss proven approaches for departments to craft high-quality, authentic grant applications that genuinely reflect their specific needs and community impact, while also fostering trust and collaboration with key funding partners. By examining real-world examples and best practices, participants will gain actionable insights into how to maximize limited budgets, reduce operational costs, and ensure their projects resonate with funders and strengthen their long-term funding networks.

South Metro Fire Rescue is proud to introduce the organization’s first tractor drawn aerial to the fleet, the department said on its YouTube channel. The TDA went into service Tuesday, Sept. 24, at Station 34 in Lone Tree, Colorado.

This new tiller, known as Ladder 34, replaces both Tower 34 and Heavy Rescue 34. Both pieces of apparatus were scheduled to be replaced to meet SMFR’s goal of replacing special operations apparatus at the 20-plus year mark.

Instead of needing two replacements that would cost the department millions of dollars, South Metro combined two pieces of apparatus into one with the new tiller. Ladder 34 is the first tractor drawn aerial to be seen on Denver Metro Area roadways in 20 years.

SMFR received Ladder 34 from Pierce Manufacturing within the last month after years of planning and preparing for this unit to meet the needs of the community. This tiller was specifically designed to be housed at Station 34 in Lone Tree and to be able to maneuver the streets with good sight lines for the engineers and operators driving and guiding the apparatus.

Dynamics such as tighter streets, complex access for buildings, and many multi-story residential structures allowed for Pierce to manufacture a tractor drawn aerial that can operate safely and effectively in the district.

South Metro also took into consideration that Ladder 34 can perform as a primary response unit as well as offering specialty support on calls needing heavy rescue and technical rescue capabilities. Tools that used to be on Rescue 34 are now being housed on Collapse 45. The new Collapse unit was added to the SMFR fleet in the last couple of years with help from a grant. Now, both Collapse 45 and Ladder 34 will be able to respond on technical rescue and heavy rescue calls with equipment spread across both units.

Specifications

By Alan M. Petrillo

The Fairview, New York Fire Department wanted to replace an older aerial ladder with a new vehicle that had a greater amount of compartment space, as well as a pump and a water tank to satisfy its Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating. Fairview chose Rosenbauer to build a truck that fit its particular needs.

“We needed an aerial quint with a pump and a good size water tank to take care of our ISO rating,” observes Rob Ridley, Fairview’s deputy chief, “because half of our fire district doesn’t have a municipal water supply. We also wanted to maximize the compartment space on our new truck, and needed a vehicle that would be easier to set up in some areas of our district where we had difficulties with our prior truck.”

Blake Garrison, president of Garrison Fire & Rescue, who sold the truck to Fairview, says the rig is built on a Commander™ chassis with an EXT extended aluminum body and cab with seating for six firefighters, five of them in self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) seats, and a 109-foot Viper™ four-section wireless controlled steel aerial ladder. He notes the rig has a 23,000-pound Hendrickson parabolic spring front suspension, a 54,000-pound Ridewell RD-202S rear suspension, a 236-inch wheelbase, an overall length of 42 feet 3 inches, an overall height of 12 feet, and is powered by a 500-horsepower (hp) Cummins X12 engine, and an Allison 4000 EVS transmission.

Garrison points out that the Fairview quint has a Hale Qmax-XS 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) pump, a 500-gallon water tank, and four out-and-down outriggers with a 15-feet 6-inches jack spread and outrigger plate spotlighting, with the aerial controlled by Rosenbauer’s Smart Aerial™ system that allows operating safely over a short jacked side of the truck.

Ridley says the quint has two 200-foot 1-3/4-inch hose crosslays, one 2-1/2-inch hose

Special Delivery Alan M. Petrillo

West Hancock Ambulance Service covers approximately 200 square miles of the western part of Hancock County, a mostly rural district that encompasses five towns: Britt, Woden, Crystal Lake, Kanawha, and Corwith.

West Hancock operates out of a single station in Britt with three ambulances staffed by four full-time paid paramedics, one full-time paid driver, and 20 volunteer drivers and emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

Jennifer Vaske, the director of West Hancock and also a paramedic, says the ambulance service wanted to replace a 2009 Type 3 ambulance, so it checked out what ambulance makers had to offer and chose Wheeled Coach to build it a new rig. “The difficulty was that we placed the order for the ambulance during the COVID pandemic, so it took three years for us to get the new rig,” she points out.

Mindie Simons, sales manager for Feld Fire, who sold the ambulance to West Hancock, says the Ford shutdown of light truck chassis during the pandemic caused quite a holdup on ambulance production. Ultimately, she found a work-around to the drought of light truck chassis. “There is a local auto dealer, Pritchard Automotive, that handles a lot of utility trucks on Ford F-550 chassis, so we gave them the spec of what we needed for an ambulance, and they filled an available spot and placed the order with Ford,” Simons says. “Wheeled Coach had approved the spec, and the chassis was delivered directly to them in Orlando. With the COVID situation, we had to be creative, and by going through Pritchard, we cut about four to six months off their wait time.”

Simons says the completed Wheeled Coach Type 1 is built on a Ford F-550 4×4 chassis, powered by a 6.7-liter diesel engine, with dual alternators, a Vanner LifeSine® inverter, and Liquid Spring front and rear suspensions. Wheelbase on the rig is 193 inches, overall length is 25 feet 5 inches, and the patient module is 170 inches long with