By Alan M. Petrillo
San Marcos is a city of about 70,000 that includes Texas State University with about 37,000 students. The city is situated on the edge of Texas hill country on its west side, split from the coastal plains on the east by Interstate-35. San Marcos Fire Department has 95 paid firefighters and commissioned staff operating out of six stations with four engines and two aerial quints.
When San Marcos decided to replace one of its quints, it chose to purchase a 105-foot tractor-drawn aerial (TDA) quint from Spartan ER-LTI. “The new truck is located at Station 5,” says John Koenig, San Marcos battalion chief. “In that area the streets are narrower and the buildings are taller, so it’s easier to get around with a TDA, which affords us more opportunity to set up on corners and increase our scrub area.”
The aerial ladder on the TDA is a steel, four-section design with 105 feet of vertical reach, 100 feet of horizontal reach, a wind rating of 50 miles per hour, and an elevation range from minus-seven to plus-78 degrees.Koenig says the truck committee examined three TDA brands and had the opportunity to drive two of them, before settling on the Spartan ER-LTI rig. “We chose Spartan ER-LTI because of the vehicle’s configuration, and because of our dealer, Metro Fire Apparatus out of Houston, which has given us very good service,” Koenig points out. “We also had direct contact with our dealer, Spartan ER, and their engineer, and found them all very easy to work with. They listened well and offered solutions for us. We’re very pleased with them and the process.”
Randy Hummer, Spartan ER aerial account manager, says the San Marcos TDA quint is powered by a 565-horsepower (hp) Cummins X 15 diesel engine, and an Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission with a retarder, and has an Advanced Occupant Protection system. The tractor’s front axle has an air ride independent front suspension with a 24,000-pound rating, the tractor’s drive axle has a Ridewell RAD 241 air ride with a 32,500-pound rating, and the tiller axle has a Ridewell air ride with a 23,000-pound rating. Tractor wheelbase is 189 inches, trailer wheelbase is 346 inches, overall length is 62 feet 3 inches, and overall height is 11 feet 9 inches.
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Posted: Apr 26, 2022
Toyne—Hartford (NY) Fire District pumper-tanker. Freightliner SD114 SBA cab and chassis; Detroit Diesel DD13 505-hp engine; Waterous CSU 1,500-gpm pump; UPF Poly 2,500-gallon water tank; Elkhart Cobra EXM monitor; FRC LED 900-Q65 scene lights; three Newton electric dump valves with chutes. Dealer: J.P.B. Fire Sales, Liverpool, NY.
MORE FIRE APPARATUS ARTICLES>>
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Posted: Apr 25, 2022
Posted: Apr 25, 2022
New York Yankees righty reliever Miguel Castro has gone from throwing fire to helping extinguish it. Though he still plans to throw it, too.
Indeed. Castro recently purchased a new fire truck for his hometown—its first!—of Villa Hermosa (Dominican Republic), reports brobible.com.
Villa Hermosa—which has a population sitting around 100,000 and a total area of 61.25 square miles—did not have a fire truck prior to Castro’s generosity, the report says. Castro decided that that would no longer be the case and made the donation to the village’s “Cuerpo de Bomberos.”
The 27-year-old has also played for the Blue Jays, Rockies, Orioles, and Mets since his MLB debut in 2015. He owns a 4.10 ERA with 316 strikeouts to 195 walks in 360.1 innings.
It’s always fun to see a pitcher hit a home run.
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