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| Mount Union’s new Rosenbauer 100-foot aerial is built on a Spartan chassis with a Gladiator MFD six-person cab and has a Waterous 1,500-gpm midship pump and a UPF 500-gallon polyethylene water tank. |
When you’re a small fire district with limited resources and the need for a particular piece of apparatus, it becomes imperative to get as close to what you want as you can possibly manage.
And with today’s limited budgets, used apparatus may be a consideration.
Mount Union (Pa.) Fire Company No. 1, a district that covers mostly rural and suburban areas in central Pennsylvania with some industrial and commercial sections, wanted to replace a 1986 Pierce 65-foot quint that it purchased used about a half-dozen years ago, having outgrown the rig.
Chief Terry Morder Jr. said he formed a truck committee of eight officers and firefighters, and they began to look for a used aerial built after 2000 to replace the straight stick Pierce quint. But instead of purchasing a used ladder truck, the fire company ended up with a new 2010 Rosenbauer 100-foot straight stick with a Waterous 1,500-gpm pump and a UPF 500-gallon polyethylene water tank.
Best of all, Rosenbauer configured the aerial similar to Mt. Union’s pumper, color coding hand line valves on the pump panel and laying the panel out the same as on Mount Union’s engine. Rosenbauer also configured a roll-out tray at the rear of the vehicle that extended 10 feet to provide access to pike poles and other tools in a single place.
“We had looked around to see what was available on a used basis because of our financial position,” Morder said. “We looked at some used rigs and spotted a used 2005 Pierce 105-foot straight stick on the Internet. The vehicle also had a pump and tank on it, which we were looking for.”
But after contacting a former Pierce sales rep in Hagerstown, Md., who now serves as a Rosenbauer representative, Morder said Mount Union firefighters were told they could get a new aerial for slightly more money than a used one.
Greg Price, owner and sales representative for West Potomac Fire and Rescue Equipment in Hagerstown, Md., said he had sold the Mount Union Fire Company two Pierce pumpers, the first in 1995 and the second in 2003. Then, in 2008 West Potomac Fire and Rescue became a Rosenbauer representative.
“The committee from Mount Union approached me and asked about used and new aerials,” Price said. “The price on a used aerial was such that for only between $100,000 to $150,000 more, they could purchase a new Rosenbauer aerial if they stretched the payments out for an additional two years longer than they had anticipated.”
The truck committee did its due diligence and concluded the new vehicle was the best deal.
“With the new vehicle,” Price said, “the expectancy is to keep it for 15 to 20 years, so the length of the loan for an additional two years wasn’t that much of a burden.”
He noted that the truck committee considered both Pierce and Crimson Fire aerials before choosing the Rosenbauer.
“The Mount Union firefighters wanted an aerial at least 100 feet long because of the set-backs they face in many of their district areas,” he said. “They told me they needed to be able to reach the third or fourth floor of those set-back buildings.”
Price noted that the Rosenbauer aerial has safety features such as envelope control and crush zone protection, called Smart Aerial features, which allow the truck to be short jacked, yet prevent the aerial from being put into an unsafe position.
Mount Union’s most unusual request, he said, was was the rear roll-out tray for pike pokes, drywall hooks, plaster hooks and Halligans. “The upright tray comes out of the back of the truck near where the ladders are stored,” he said.
Kevin Boysen, sales production coordinator for Rosenbauer, said the rear tray was different. “We had room for it because it was stored off to the side of the ladder,” he said. “But overall, the truck was fairly common for us in a 100-footer, and everything went pretty well on it.”
He said the Mount Union truck committee was “on top of things they wanted to see and have done.” When they presented the last few items on the punch list at the final inspection, Rosenbauer employees were able to quickly take care of them so they could leave that evening to drive the apparatus to Pennsylvania. It was built at Rosenbauer’s aerials division in Fremont, Neb.
Mike Quarry, a lieutenant with Mount Union and a member of the truck committee, said the aerial has responded to a number of district and mutual aid calls. “It hasn’t put out a fire in our district yet,” he said, “although it has assisted in extinguishing fires in adjacent districts.”
Quarry noted that the Rosenbauer aerial runs first out on structure fires in Mount Union’s district, as first due engine for mutual aid to surrounding districts and as second due aerial on mutual aid.
Mount Union (Pa.)Fire Company No. 1
Strength: 75 active volunteer firefighters operating out of one station, providing fire suppression, rescue and EMS responses.
Service area: Approximately 45 square miles encompassing Shirley township, Mount Union borough and parts of Brady and Wayne townships with a population of approximately 6,500.
Other apparatus: 2003 Pierce Enforcer pumper, 1,250-gpm pump, 1,000-gallon tank, 40-gallon Class A foam tank; 1995 Pierce pumper-rescue, 1,500-gpm top-mount pump, 1,000-gallon tank, full complement of Amkus rescue tools; 2008 Ford F350 brush truck, 250-gpm pump, 300-gallon tank; three basic life support (BLS) ambulances; one dive team boat.
Rosenbauer 100-foot aerial ladder
• Spartan chassis
• Gladiator MFD 6-person cab
• FireComm headsets for all firefighters; officer’s and driver’s are wireless.
• Cummins ISM 500-hp diesel engine
• Allison 4000 EVS transmission
• Jacobs engine retarder
• Waterous CSUC10 1,500-gpm midship pump
• UPF 500-gallon polyethylene water tank
• Class A and Class B portable foam units
• Pump-and-roll capability
• Three 1-3/4-inch preconnects – two as crosslays and one in the front bumper
• Two 2-1/2-inch preconnects, one as a crosslay and one off the rear hooked to Task Force Tip BlitzFire portable monitor
• 100-foot aerial straight stick ladder
• 1,000-pound tip load
• Aerial command seat
• Aerial remote control
• Thermal imaging camera
• Electrical power, pre-piped waterway and full lighting to tip of aerial
• 24-foot two-fly extension ladder
• 16-foot, 12-foot and 10-foot roof ladders
• 10-foot attic ladder
• Onan 8,000-watt generator
• Six FRC 1,500-watt floodlights
• Positive and negative pressure fans
• Six MSA air packs with six spare bottles
• CO meter and heat gun
• 65 hand tools mounted on trays or in compartments
• Two K-12 saws
• VentMaster chain saw and standard chain saw
• Chimney fire tools
• Salvage and overhaul equipment in tray mounts
• RIT bag
• CO2, sodium and water canister fire extinguishers
• Hazmat spill equipment
• Incident command board
Price without equipment: $725,000
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