The Sheboygan Falls (WI) Fire Department needed to replace a 1991 Darley pumper with a newer model, so the truck committee and chief checked out the offerings at FDIC International to get a feel of what manufacturer might fit their wish list best. The truck committee came back from the conference with its three top choices. After working with the three apparatus makers, the department chose CustomFIRE to build its new pumper.
Chris Wesendorf, chief of Sheboygan Falls, says the committee was looking toward the future with the design and specs of its newest pumper. “We wanted to build a pumper that met our needs at the present but still was workable 20 years from now,” Wesendorf says. “Working with CustomFIRE we got everything we wanted on all the important items on the pumper.” These items included an enclosed top-mount pump panel, 360-degree camera system, front and rear suctions, CAFS, and both Class A and B foam tanks.
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Wayde Kirvida, sales engineer for CustomFIRE, notes that the Sheboygan Falls pumper “is one of the most complex pumpers we’ve done because of the piping, foam systems, CAFS, and sleeves we had to run through the water tank in order to get the rear discharges they wanted.” Kirvida says the pumper is built on a Spartan Gladiator chassis with a concealed bolted stainless steel body and seating for five firefighters in the cab. The rig is powered by a 450-hp Cummins L9 diesel engine and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission, has a wheelbase of 255 inches, an overall length of 37 feet 3 inches, and an overall height of 11 feet 7 inches.
The enclosed top-mount pumper has a Waterous CSUC20 1,500-gpm midship mount pump, a 1,000-gallon water tank, a 20-gallon Class A foam cell, a 40-gallon Class B foam cell, FoamPro 3012 dual-agent foam system, Waterous powered foam refill system, Waterous 200-cfm CAFS, Waterous Oil-Less pump primer, and FRC Pump Boss pressure governor. Kirvida points out that both of the onboard A and B foam tanks can be used with CAFS.
Wesendorf says that the option for dual types of foam was an important facet of the pumper’s specs. “We have a railroad that runs through town, and we also are close to an airport where we do simultaneous dispatch, so the availability of both Class A and Class B foam is very important to us,” he points out. “There’s also a Kohler manufacturing facility in a nearby district where we are on automatic mutual aid, and their first in engine doesn’t have foam or CAFS, so we provide that for them.”
Wesendorf notes that the pumper has three crosslays, two each of 1¾-inch hose and one of 2½-inch hose; a 1¾-inch hose line in the extended front bumper; and four 2½-inch discharges off the rear of the vehicle, with one connected to a hoseline tipped by a Task Force Tips Blitzfire nozzle. There’s a one-inch booster line and reel in the rear compartment of the pumper, and an Akron monitor sits on the left rear corner on top of the body.
Kirvida says the pumper has wheel well SCBA storage, under body winch receivers for a 9,000-pound Warn winch, overhead coffin storage pods, adjustable compartment shelving, pull-out and tip-down compartment trays and tool boards, a single-arm drop down hydraulic ladder rack, a slide-in folding tank storage area from the rear, and a swing-out-and-down rear access ladder. “The vehicle also has an 8-kW Harrison hydraulic generator , a Will-Burt NightScan light tower, and power rewind electric cord reels,” he says. “Emergency warning devices include a Federal A2B mechanical siren and electronic siren and speaker, Whelen LED warning lights, and a Whelen Freedom LED light bar an traffic advisor.”
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.
