The Eagan (MN) Fire Department was in the market for a new engine when it learned that E-ONE was updating its Cyclone® cab. The department checked with E-ONE about the enhancements being made to the Cyclone cab, liked what it heard, and contracted with E-ONE to build its new pumper.
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The end result is a “Clean Cab Concept” pumper on the new 100-inch-wide Cyclone cab and chassis carrying a Waterous CSU 1,500-gpm pump, a 770-gallon water tank, a 30 gallon foam cell, and a pump panel on the officer’s side. Kim Clarey of Fire Safety USA, who sold the pumper to Eagan, says Eagan’s clean cab concept “pulls the turnouts and SCBA out of the cab and into compartments so there’s no chance of carcinogens being introduced into the cab. The cab also has a twin internal HEPA filtration system, and on the discharge side of the pump, there’s a hot water garden hose reel for decontamination of turnouts and equipment.”
Mike Scott, Eagan’s chief, points out that the pumper’s cab has USSC Valor seats covered in vinyl for easy decon, heavy rubber matting on the floor, and angled door sweeps to make it easier to sweep and clean the cab. “We freed up enough compartment space to hold four SCBA in R1 and R3 on pull-out tool boards with brackets on the back so the firefighters can move out easily,” Scott says. “The R2 compartment holds the crew’s turnout gear, which can be bagged and stored there if it becomes contaminated.”
Other notable items on the new pumper, Scott says, include a vertical exhaust to keep contaminants away from firefighters and the SCBA storage areas, a pair of EMS cabinets on the interior overwheel area of the cab, two 200-foot 1¾-inch hose crosslays in the front bumper, a low hosebed holding 600 feet of 5-inch LDH and 600 feet of 2½-inch hose, three 2½-inch discharges at the rear, and a 4-inch master discharge on the driver’s side with a Task Force Tips valve. He notes that Eagan wanted the pump panel on the curb side “because we have three main freeways and a lot of trucking companies in our district, so we wanted to keep our driver out of traffic as much as possible.”
Joe Hedges, product manager for chassis and aerials at E-ONE, says the new Cyclone cab incorporates door and window enhancements that previously had been made to the E-ONE Typhoon® cab, and that the added width opens up the cab’s interior by providing 27 inches of space between the door and the engine tunnel. “Eagan chose to have a four-inch raised roof over the front of the cab as an option for more space for the driver and officer,” Hedges says, “and the cab has a rise of 16 inches in the back section. The cab’s revised window shape optimizes forward visibility, has one-piece glass side windows, pull-style door handles, and heavy-duty rugged barrier style doors that are raised about 12 inches to be able to open over a barrier.”
Hedges adds that the low-profile dash in the new cab is all severe duty made of aluminum castings and has removable panels where switches, the top access panels, and the Vista display are located. “The new cab’s reduced profile air conditioning system allows greater visibility for fire crews to look under it,” he points out, “and has eight vents in the back and six in the front for greater air distribution in the cab.” The pumper has a 72-inch HiViz LED brow light, Whelen LED warning lightings, a Whelen LED Rotobeam light bar, and blue LED lighting for the cab steps and interior cab lighting, he says.
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.
