Alan M. Petrillo
There are times in life when it takes quite a long time to get exactly what you want. That was the experience for firefighters at Herbertsville Fire Co. No. 1 in Brick, New Jersey, when it came to purchasing their first purpose-built rescue truck. Their spec and purchase process spanned five years.
Herbertsville Fire Co. protects about five square miles as the northernmost fire company in Ocean County, New Jersey, about halfway between Atlantic City and New York City. The fire district includes about 4½ miles of the Garden State Parkway, creating a need for a fully equipped rescue vehicle that can also provide fire suppression capabilities when necessary.
Dave Sanchez, Herbertville’s past chief, ultimately became head of the six-person committee formed to spec out the new rescue.
“We started this process five years ago to start looking at a rescue truck for the future but ran into some bumps in the road along the way,” he says. “Some firefighters on the committee left the area, and there were lots of differences of opinion about what we needed in terms of a rescue truck.”
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| (1) Herbertsville Fire Co. No. 1, Brick, New Jersey, turned to Rescue 1 to build this walk-around rescue truck that carries a Fire Solutions CAFS, with a 120-gallon water tank and a 35-gallon foam cell. (Photos courtesy of Rescue 1) |
Adding to the Fleet
The rescue vehicle Herbertsville sought would be a new addition to the fire company’s fleet instead of replacing an existing rescue. “We had a Ford F-250 with a utility body on it that was used as a rescue, but that was retired in 1999 when we bought an American LaFrance rescue-pumper, which we still run,” Sanchez says. “But the committee determined that we needed a walk-around rescue truck because our rescue-pumper wasn’t able to carry all the rescue equipment we wanted.”
Sanchez says the committee met with a number of manufacturers to see what they had to offer in terms of rescue trucks. “We wanted to be fair to everyone, so we wrote the specs as generically as possible but still included the things we definitely wanted on the vehicle,” Sanchez says. “Then we engaged the services of a specification writer, Tom Shand of Emergency Vehicle Response, because there were a lot of things we didn’t know about how the process worked.”
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| (2) Herbertsville’s rescue is built on a Spartan Metro Star ELFD chassis with a 20-inch raised-roof cab. The cab is set up to seat six (four in the crew cab area) and includes two storage cabinets accessible from both inside and outside the cab. |
Rescue First, Next Suppression
Shand reviewed Herbertsville’s specs, Sanchez says, made some recommendations, changed some things, and then put the specs out to bid. The winning bid was awarded to Rescue 1.
“While this is a true rescue truck, we wanted to have some kind of water and foam capability on it that wasn’t a premixed system,” Sanchez points out. “We ended up with a Fire Solutions compressed air foam system (CAFS) that has a 120-gallon water tank and a 35-gallon foam cell.”
Mike Marquis, vice president of sales for Rescue 1, says the CAFS on board Herbertsville’s rescue can disburse up to 2,400 gallons of foam. “It’s designed to be used at auto extrication scenes where you might have to fight a car fire that develops,” Marquis says. “The system can be switched to flow either foam or disburse only water.”
Marquis says the Herbertsville committee wanted to be sure that they would never run out of water with the rescue, so the vehicle has an inlet to the CAFS tank for water supply from another pumper, preventing any interruption in a fire attack.
Jamey Pallitto, sales representative at New Jersey Emergency Vehicles, which handles Rescue 1 vehicles for Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex counties in New Jersey, says that another requirement was for a breathing air system. “We installed a cascade system that has six 6,000-pound-per-square-inch (psi) air cylinders, a Mako fill enclosure, and a Sierra pressure booster,” he says. “The air system also supplies two utility air reels and the Fire Solutions CAFS.”
Lighting the Scene
Sanchez says that lighting was another important facet of the new rescue truck. It has a 9,000-watt Will-Burt 15-foot- high light tower, four 1,500-watt FRC Optimum lights, two 1,000-watt FRC tripod lights, six FRC 12-volt scene lights, two Whelen Pioneer LED 12-volt brow lights, Whelen emergency lighting, and two electric cable reels. “We put on a 35-kW Onan direct-drive PTO generator to make sure we could run everything possible on the truck without ever needing more power,” Sanchez notes.
Maximizing Space
Sanchez notes that the committee never seriously considered a walk-in style rescue truck because it was concerned about the space a walk-in would take away from storage capabilities. “We needed room for all our rescue equipment, as well as our rapid response team (RIT) gear,” he says. “We serve as the rapid intervention team (RIT) for surrounding towns where we’re on automatic mutual aid as RIT for working fires. We didn’t want to waste space on a walk-in.”
Herbertsville had Rescue 1 build the vehicle on a Spartan Metro Star 10-person cab with a 20-inch raised roof but only put in seating for six firefighters, opting to have equipment storage space in the cab instead of the additional seating. The rescue carries a Warn 5,000-pound winch that can be used at fixed points at the front and rear of the truck, as well as over the two rear wheels.
The vehicle also has a Holmatro CORE® hydraulic system with two electric pumps supplying preconnected hydraulic tools on the front bumper and in compartments over each rear wheel well. The driver’s side rear compartment can carry up to 250 pounds of absorbent accessed through a drop-down chute with an electric dispensing valve.
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| (3) The unit carries a wide assortment of warning and scene lighting, including two Whelen Pioneer LED PFP2 12-volt brow lights. |
Location Luxury
“Once we awarded the bid to Rescue 1, things worked very smoothly,” Sanchez points out. “We had the luxury that Rescue 1 is only two miles away from our fire company so if something came up during the building process, I could run over there and handle it.”
Marquis notes that the proximity of the fire company to the Rescue 1 factory was a positive factor during the build. “We saw members from Herbertsville at least once a week,” Marquis says. “We like that because the more times you visit and inspect the truck, the better it will meet your needs.”
Sanchez agrees. “We were happy to see the whole process come to a conclusion after taking so long,” he says. “We think we made the right decision with our purchase.”
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based freelance writer 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.
Rescue 1 Walk-Around Rescue
• Spartan Metro Star ELFD with 20-inch raised roof
• Seating for six firefighters
• Inside/outside access rear crew compartments with roll-up interior doors
• 22-foot 4-inch all extruded aluminum, extreme duty walk-around rescue body
• Crew area command and storage cabinets
• 23,000-pound beam front axle
• 27,000-pound rear axle
• 243-inch wheelbase
• 38-feet, four-inch overall length
• 10-foot, seven-inch overall height
• Cummins ISL 9 400-hp diesel engine
• Allison 3000 EVS transmission
• Fire Solutions foam system, 120-gallon water tank, 35-gallon foam cell
• 28-inch extended front bumper with preconnected hydraulic tools
• Four 25-inch-deep by 25-inch-high upper storage compartments
• One absorbent compartment (250-pound capacity) with air/electric dispensing valve
• Drop skirt compartments (forward of rear axles)
• ROM roll-up doors
• ROM V-3 LED compartment lights
• Folding Zico roof access ladder
• Four-position, 9,000-pound portable winch system
• Four high-angle tie-off eyelets
• Onan 35-kW direct-drive PTO generator
• Four 1,500-watt FRC Optimum lights
• 9,000-watt Will-Burt 15-foot light tower
• Two 1,000-watt FRC tripod lights
• Two Whelen Pioneer LED PFP2, 12-volt brow lights
• Whelen NFPA-compliant emergency lighting
• Six FRC 12-volt scene lights
• Two 10/4 electric cable reels
• Breathing air system with six 6,000-psi vessels, Mako fill enclosure, and Sierra pressure booster
• Two utility air reels
• Air horns and Federal Q2-B siren
Price without equipment: $705,000
Herbertsville Fire Co. No. 1, Brick, New Jersey
Strength: 32 volunteer firefighters, two stations, providing fire suppression, rescue, and rapid intervention team response.
Service area: Provides fire and rescue services to five square miles in Ocean County, New Jersey, consisting chiefly of residential areas with some commercial structures.
Other apparatus: 1999 American LaFrance pumper, 1,500-gpm pump, 500-gallon water tank, 50-gallon Class A foam tank; 1999 American LaFrance 93-foot LTI ladder tower; 1999 American LaFrance rescue-pumper, 1,500-gpm pump, 500-gallon water tank, 50-gallon Class A foam tank; 1994 Custom pumper, 1,500-gpm pump, 500-gallon water tank, 50-gallon Class A foam tank; 1996 Ford F-350 brush unit built to New Jersey Forestry Service specifications, 250-gpm pump, 250-gallon water tank, 35-gallon Class A foam tank.
