By Alan M. Petrillo
The United States was built on the foundation of small businesses, so it’s no surprise that some fire departments prefer to work with one of a number of regional or midsize fire apparatus builders.
Those manufacturers report they are seeing strong interest in their apparatus and have been turning out custom pumpers, tankers, rescues, wildland trucks, and specialty vehicles.
Pumpers
Joe Messmer, president of Summit Fire Apparatus, sees multipurpose vehicles as a continuing trend that will be with the fire service for some time. “Rescue-pumpers seem to be the truck of the day right now and will probably continue that way for a while,” Messmer says. “Doing more with one truck and the lack of staffing for some fire departments are a couple of reasons for the rise in rescue-pumper use. It’s actually a good natural blend for a fire vehicle.”
Bob Sorensen, vice president of SVI Trucks, says SVI has delivered three out of five identical pumpers ordered by the Greeley (CO) Fire Department. “Each one is on a Spartan chassis set up as a paramedic engine for four firefighters,” Sorensen says. “They each have a Cummins 550-horsepower (hp) diesel engine, independent front suspension, Waterous 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) side-mount pump, and an L-shaped 750-gallon water tank that allows for a low hosebed. The pumpers also have FRC SpectraMax scene lighting and a rear compartment to house hydraulic rescue tools.”
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| Summit Fire Apparatus built this custom side-mount pumper with an extended front bumper for the Green Township (OH) Fire Department. (Photo courtesy of Summit Fire Apparatus.) |
Grant Spencer, general manager of Spencer Manufacturing, says his company has been doing a lot of customization on fire trucks. “We’re not building the same trucks every day,” he says, “because departments want their pumpers, quick-attacks, and pumper-tankers customized to their needs.”
Mark Albright, general manager of 4 Guys Fire Trucks, believes the industry as a whole has picked up in fire truck orders. “There’s a lot of activity going on with custom pumpers and rescue-pumpers,” he says, “as well as with rescues, aerials, and tankers. We are seeing more rear-pump-design apparatus, although top-mount pump applications are still out there. They both make sense because of the increased visibility the operator gets.”
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| 2 SVI Trucks built several Type 3 Model wildland trucks with 500-gpm pumps and 500-gallon water tanks for Dallas (TX) Fire-Rescue. (Photo courtesy of SVI Trucks.) |
Mike Weis, owner of Weis Fire & Safety Equipment Co., says he’s been seeing a lot more use of high-end quick-attack-style pumpers. “We build a hybrid brush and rescue truck that’s a quick-attack vehicle departments use for first responder calls, car, and brush fires,” Weis notes. “Some departments buy the quick-attack and set it up to handle a vehicle accident first and medical treatment second. Most are on Ford F-450 and F-550 chassis, along with some Dodges and Chevys, and usually carry 300 to 500 gallons of water, foam, and a couple of attack lines.”
Trapper Meadors, sales engineer for Precision Fire Apparatus, also has seen a trend toward quick-attack vehicles. “We have two on the books to build right now on Ford F-550 chassis,” he says, “with pump skid units, a couple of preconnects, booster reels, and four compartments.”
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| Spencer Manufacturing built this pumper-tanker with a 1,500-gpm Hale pump, 2,200-gallon water tank, and Newton rear swivel dump for the Ashland Grant (MI) Fire District. (Photo courtesy of Spencer Manufacturing.) |
Mark Kreikemeier, vice president of Danko Emergency Equipment, says quick-attacks most commonly are built on Ford F-550 chassis. “The tanks and pumps on them are driven by customer preference,” he says. “Some departments want to take a lot of water with them depending on their terrain and geography. The chassis can carry from 250 to 500 gallons of water.”
Tankers
John Woltman, president of US Tanker Co., says his company has been building tankers recently that carry larger pumps and bigger water tanks than ever before. “These days we’re putting 1,250- and 1,500-gpm pumps on tankers that would have had smaller pumps a few years ago,” Woltman points out. “Departments also are looking for bigger water on their vehicles-in the 3,000- to 4,000-gallon range. Instead of buying two 2,000-gallon tankers, a department might buy a single larger truck, and I’m sure both cost and personnel are issues they are considering.”
Joe Lee, US Tanker’s vice president and director of internal sales, echoes Woltman’s thoughts. “We’re building a lot of combination units-pumper-tankers-that have the necessary ladders and hose complement on them in order to get rated as a pumper,” he says. Lee notes that square (rectangular) style tankers have hosebeds and more compartment space than elliptical style tankers. “Ten years ago, we would build seven ellipticals to one square tanker,” he says. “Now we build ten squares to one elliptical.”
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| The Sugar Creek Township (IL) Fire Department chose Weis Fire & Safety Equipment Co. to construct this quick-attack truck on a Ford F-550 chassis. (Photo courtesy of Weis Fire & Safety Equipment Co.) |
Dave Savone, chief of the Merrill (WI) Fire Department, says Merrill went back to US Tanker for a pumper-tanker after purchasing a pumper several years earlier. “We bought a 2014 pumper-tanker on a Freightliner chassis with a 1,000-gpm pump, 3,000 gallons of water, 1,200 feet of hose, an engine’s ladder complement, and two crosslays,” Savone points out. “It qualifies as a pumper, but we primarily use it as a tanker. However, it serves as our third engine, so if our second-due engine goes out of service, the pumper-tanker fills the role.”
Savone notes that the vehicle’s rectangular dump valve extends out six feet and can swivel through 180 degrees. “We can dump the 3,000 gallons into a portable tank in 64 seconds,” he adds.
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| Danko Emergency Equipment built this pumper-tanker on a Freightliner two-door chassis with a Hale 750-gpm Side Kick pump, 2,000-gallon water tank, and Danko rear swivel dump for the Swanton (NE) Fire Department. (Photo courtesy of Danko Emergency Equipment.) |
Brett Jensen, vice president and general manager of Midwest Fire, says his company has seen a lot of activity from rural fire departments pushing toward the pumper-tanker concept. “A lot of the departments have a front-line pumper, but when it comes to a new truck, they are getting a pumper-tanker with all the requirements of that front-line pumper,” he says. “They are carrying 2,000 or 3,000 gallons of water, full compartmentation, a large pump, and all the equipment necessary to certify as a pumper.”
Jensen says that “ten years ago we built 80 percent tankers, but now straight tankers are only one percent of what we build, with the rest going out with at least a 1,000-gpm pump on them, and often much more.” He adds that Midwest Fire recently built a pumper-tanker for the Regional Fire & Rescue Department in Casa Grande, Arizona, on a tandem-axle Kenworth T800 chassis carrying 3,500 gallons of water and a 1,250-gpm pump. “They have a small metro area,” he observes, “and a lot of places where there are no hydrants.”
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| US Tanker Co. built this 3,000-gallon elliptical pumper-tanker with a Hale 1,000-gpm pump for the Beaver (WV) Volunteer Fire Department. (Photo courtesy of US Tanker Co.) |
Messmer says his company worked for a year with the Candor (NY) Fire Department on specifications for a large tanker. “We eventually got the contract with them for a 4,000-gallon tandem-rear-axle tanker on a Volvo chassis,” he says, “with a 1,000-gpm pump.”
Dan Kreikemeier, Danko’s president, says Danko uses Hale’s Sidekick pump that allows it to move the water tank forward to the back of the cab. “It shifts the weight toward the front axle, which means you can have a shorter wheelbase,’ Kreikemeier says, “and you also don’t have the 42-inch-wide pump house.” Most of the Sidekicks are 500- or 750-gpm, he notes, and the pumper-tankers typically carry 2,000 gallons of water on a single rear axle or 3,000 gallons on a tandem rear axle.
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| Midwest Fire built this pumper-tanker for the Regional Fire & Rescue Department in Casa Grande, Arizona, on a Kenworth T800 chassis carrying a 1,250-gpm pump and 3,500 gallons of water. Note the bumper turret on the extended front bumper. (Photo courtesy of Midwest Fire.) |
David Rhodes, CEO at ETTS Fire Apparatus, says ETTS is completing a tanker that started out with a 500-gpm pump and a 3,000-gallon water tank. “Once we started building it, the department wanted to increase to a 1,000-gpm pump, which we did, but it changed the configuration of the truck because we needed a pump cabinet with crosslays,” he says. “A lot of the volunteer fire departments in Texas and southern Oklahoma are putting larger pumps on their vehicles to meet National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) rules and try to increase their Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating.”
Rescues
In the case of traditional style rescues, Michael Cox, vice president of sales at Emergency Vehicles Inc. (EVI), says most of the rescues EVI has built recently have been walk-around models. “We do a crew body rescue that is a custom cab concept in front with access to the cab, which normally seats five firefighters,” Cox says. “We can put communications or emergency medical services (EMS) equipment in there, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) response seats, or an area to change into cold water suits. The back section is walk-around that can have transverse compartments and coffin compartments on top.”
Cox notes that LED lighting has become standard on the vehicles EVI builds, both for emergency, scene, and compartment lighting needs. “We’re also asked to put in a lot of transverse and tool directional shelving,” he adds, “so the department can carry its equipment smarter and more efficiently. Firefighters are thinking more about mounting equipment where they need it, especially for specialty equipment they might not use a lot but still have to carry.”
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| The Moore Station (TX) Fire Department had ETTS Fire Apparatus build this wildland pumper on a Ford F-550 chassis with a skid unit pump and a 400-gallon water tank. (Photo courtesy of ETTS Fire Apparatus.) |
Mike Marquis, vice president of national sales for Rescue 1, says the majority of the rescues his company has been building have been walk-around models but that the need for walk-in boxes on rescues has increased to between 30 and 40 percent of Rescue 1’s business. “Some departments, notably from Maryland down through the Carolinas, use a lot of walk-ins and build their storage inside the vehicle instead of on top of it,” Marquis points out. “In the Northeast, we build some walk-in rescues, but most are walk-arounds with coffin storage up on top.”
Marquis says he’s also seen an upswing in rescue trucks carrying a small amount of water. “Usually they have a 250- to 300-gpm power takeoff (PTO) driven pump with 250 to 300 gallons of water on board,” he says. “It doesn’t take a big footprint in the truck but allows the department to deal with a car fire during an extrication.”
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| Emergency Vehicles Inc. (EVI) builds crew-body-style rescue trucks that combine an interior walk-in area at the front and a traditional walk-around body at the rear. (Photo courtesy of Emergency Vehicles Inc.) |
Rescue 1 also has been installing portable foam units on rescue trucks, Marquis says. “We use a lot of Tri-Max 30 and Tri-Max 60 compressed-air foam (CAF) units that use 30 or 60 gallons of water and foam solution premixed in the tank,” he says. “It’s activated by breathing air from the vehicle and will make from 600 to 1,200 gallons of foam. Between 40 to 50 percent of the rescues we build have some type of fire suppression system onboard.”
Marquis notes that LED lighting also has meant some changes in rescue trucks. “We have a demo unit with a light tower carrying six FRC SpectraMax light heads that operate by 120 volts through a transformer,” he says. “That means the lights don’t need power from a generator because they take it from the vehicle’s motor.”
Wildland
Sorensen says his company has seen a lot of activity recently in Type 3 and Type 6 wildland pumpers. “We are building two Type 3 wildland engines now for the Dallas (TX) Fire Department,” he says. “We delivered two a year ago and they liked them so much they ordered two more. These are the Model 34 type, four-door [units] on International chassis carrying 500-gpm pumps and 500 gallons of water.”
Spencer notes that every brush truck he builds today has some kind of foam on it. “And, they are carrying more water than they have in the past,” he notes. “Often they will choose to use Super Singles on the rear wheels instead of dual rear wheels so the vehicle won’t get stuck easily when they go off into the fields.”
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| Rescue 1 built this walk-around rescue truck for the North Coventry (CT) Volunteer Fire Department with a Hale 250-gpm PTO pump and a 300-gallon water tank. (Photo courtesy of Rescue 1.) |
Howe and Howe Technologies builds Bulldog wildland vehicles on both new and refurbished International chassis, according to Mike Howe, president. “Our Tier 1 is a 2016 International 7400 4x4 chassis,” he says. “Tier 2 is a 2002 to 2008 International 7400 or 7600 chassis that we strip down and refurbish. Tier 3 is a 1992 to 2002 International 4800 chassis with the DP466 motor.”
Howe points out that the major cost on a Bulldog is the chassis, which is why the company seeks out and refurbishes older International chassis for customers. “The fire chiefs buying these trucks don’t put a lot of miles on them-maybe 500 to 1,000 miles a year-so often going with a refurbished chassis is the right thing for them,” he says.
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| Royalton (MN) Fire Department firefighters rewind hose after extinguishing a brush fire with their Howe and Howe Technologies Bulldog wildland pumper. (Photo courtesy of Howe and Howe Technologies.) |
A typical Bulldog will have a 1,250- or 1,500-gallon water tank, Howe says, and usually a CET 25-horsepower (hp) diesel pump or a Waterous pump, with an Akron monitor and a fog nozzle on the front bumper and often bumper sprayers underneath.
He notes that the Royalton (MN) Fire Department outfitted its Bulldog wildland vehicle as a brush truck and for EMS response. “They put hydraulic rescue tools and their EMS gear on it so it could be a quick-response rescue and EMS vehicle as well as a brush rig,” Howe adds.
Jeff Nevis, sales executive for Boise Mobile Equipment, says that multifunctional brush trucks are becoming more popular for wildland use. “The fire department decides what it wants its vehicle to do and then we design a rig to fit those needs,” Nevis says. “Fire vehicles are so expensive that departments want them to do more than one thing, but there’s a fine line to hold so you don’t try to do too many things with the same vehicle.”
Specialty Vehicles
Sorensen says his company recently got a three-truck order from the Honolulu (HI) Fire Department. “The first truck is unique,” he notes. “It’s a helicopter refueling truck that looks like a rescue truck, and it’s built to NFPA 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus. It carries a 400-gallon jet fuel tank and a 100-gallon diesel fuel tank, so when helicopters are at a wildland fire, this vehicle can deliver fuel on the scene. The other two trucks are hazmat vehicles with command areas.”
Messmer observes that while the fire service is very traditional, it has the ability to develop surprise trends. “This is really a funny business at times,” he notes, “because you never know what the next trend is going to be.”
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist and is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment editorial advisory board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.