The Reynolds (IL) Fire Protection District is a long-time customer of Alexis Fire Equipment Company, having purchased pumpers, tankers, a rescue, and brush truck from Alexis in the past. So when Reynolds needed a new pumper that would have pump-and-roll capability in addition to its main fire pump, the district turned again to Alexis to build the rig.
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Marty Gray, Reynolds Fire Protection District chief, said the department wanted to have a second pump on its new pumper to allow the capability for pump-and-roll operations. “In order to use the pumper for brush fire work where we operate from unimproved roadways and other off road areas, we wanted to be sure the new pumper was in a four-wheel-drive configuration and carried a second pump in addition to the midship pump,” Gray points out. “We also wanted a breathing air system piped into the cab so the driver and passenger can plug into the system while operating from the cab in fighting brush fires.”
The resulting pumper, says Jeff Morris, Alexis president, is on a Kenworth T880 two-door chassis with a 4×4 conversion, powered by a Cummins X15 505-hp engine, and an Eaton FO-18E318B 18-speed ultra shift automatic transmission. “The pumper has a heavy-duty stainless steel body and subframe and ROM roll-up doors,” Morris says. “It carries a Waterous CXSD 1,500-gpm side-mount pump, a Waterous CLVK 500-gpm PTO pump for pump-and-roll, a 1,250-gallon polypropylene water tank, a 20-gallon foam tank, and a Waterous Aquis 6 foam system.”
Wheelbase on the Reynolds pumper is 220 inches, cab-to-axle measurement is 152 inches, overall height is 11 feet 5 inches, overall length is 30 feet, front axle weight rating is 18,180 pounds, and rear axle weight rating is 30,000 pounds. The rig has a Zico electric ladder rack on the right side, and a custom built AFE stainless steel brush guard.
Gray notes that the pumper has an Elkhart Brass Vulcan remote control deck gun and an Akron Brass remote control front bumper turret, two 1½-inch Mattydale preconnects of 250 feet each across the top of the body, two electric booster reels each with 150 feet of hose (one on each side of the body), four 3-inch discharges (two left side, one right side, one rear) four 2½-inch discharges (two left side, one right side, one rear), two 2½-inch gated suctions (one each side), a 10-inch square Newton manual dump valve with a 36-inch extension at the rear, a 4-inch Fire Programs rear tank fill, and 1,000 feet of 2½-inch supply line in the hosebed.
Morris says that compartments on the pumper have a Zico Quick Index SCBA bracket for four complete SCBA packs, a two-bottle 6,000-psi cascade system with control panel, four dual bottle air bottle compartments (two each side of the wheel wells), a Progressive Dynamics onboard battery charger with Kussmaul Super Auto Eject, a Whelen electronic siren with 100-watt speaker, two Hadley air horns, a Whelen LED warning light package, and FireTech and Akron Brass LED scene lighting.
Gray says that the pumper “has performed very well since we got it last October. We pumped two structure fires with it. On the first structure fire, it made a very good stop, and on the second one, we pumped 2½ hours with it and it worked fine, but it was sitting in a wet spot, so we buried it to the axles. We had to get a big four-wheel-drive farm tractor to pull the pumper out.”
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and 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.
