Stability And Flexibility Are Key Hallmarks Of Mid-Mounts

By William Markgraf

When it comes to aerials, there’s only one way to go and that’s with mid-mounts. In my mind, they just flat out give you more flexibility.

Stability is far better with a mid-mount than a rear-mount too. With a rear-mount, all the weight is on the back, but with a mid-mount, the weight is spread out over the entire apparatus.

Blocking The Driver’s Vision

In today’s world, we have to include the debate of platform devices versus straight-stick ladders when discussing the rear-mount versus mid-mount apparatus. I believe this discussion plays a role in the mid/rear-mount debate.

One department I know about had a rear-mount aerial, and they managed to wedge it under a highway overpass, drive it through the overhead door and have the bucket severely damaged by a passing truck while sitting on the fire station ramp. Now folks can say that driver education and training were badly needed. However, as I reflect on the real cause for  these kinds of problems, I maintain that the basket hanging over the windshield, obscuring the driver’s vision, was the principal cause. We just don’t have those kinds of problems with mid-mount apparatus.

Many years ago, a test was conducted to determine which was faster at removing people from upper floors, a Snorkel platform or straight stick. As I recall, it took between 25 and 30 people in need of removal before the straight ladder was the faster operation. Removing people from upper floors is labor intensive with a straight ladder. Whereas using a platform much like an elevator is more efficient with fewer people.

With my department, the Columbia (Mo.) Fire Department, we have 11 aerial devices, and every one of them is a mid-mount: five are 75-foot straight-stick quints; one is a 70-foot tower platform, also a quint; two are 95-foot platform quints; one is a 104-foot straight ladder, also a quint; one is a 65-foot Snozzle; and one is a 50-foot Snozzle.

Handling Extra Weight

With the exception of the two Snozzles, all of them are Sutphens simply because I believe the huck-bolted aluminum boxed boom construction is the best out there. To my knowledge, they’ve never had a ladder failure.

For us, all of our aerials have dual and some times triple-hose loads. You could not put a dual-hose load on a rear-mount aerial. There’s just not enough room, and the apparatus just wouldn’t handle all that extra weight back there.

The dual-hose load is important to us. We lay dual 4-inch supply lines for water at working commercial fires. With the mid-mount elevated apparatus, all of our quints, ladders and/or Snozzles can – and do – lay supply lines regardless of the order in which they arrive on the scene.

It’s also my belief that the compartmentation on a mid-mount is more versatile than that found on a rear-mount aerial, particularly the hose bed compartments.

The Spring Valley (N.Y.) Fire Department, recently took delivery of a 100-foot American LaFrance mid-mount 100-foot tower ladder.  It’s built on an ALF Eagle cab and chassis, powered by a 515 hp Detroit Diesel Engine and an Allison 4000EVS transmission. It also has a 2,000 gpm Hale Qmax pump, a 300-gallon tank and a FoamPro system. Some aerial operators believe mid-mount devices are more stable than rear-mounts and have more flexibility.          (American LaFrance Photo)

On our aerials, we have two 250-foot electric cord reels mounted under the turntable, and that’s something I don’t think could be done on a rear-mount aerial. This alone saves a good deal of compartment space.

When it comes to placement of an aerial at the scene, a mid-mount gives you a lot more flexibility. I’ve been in the fire service 52 years, and during that time I’ve deployed mid-mount aerials in every way imaginable. We’ve had them off the back, off the front, off the sides, below grade. Just about any way you can think of, we’ve done it.

A Better Line Of Sight

It’s my belief that a mid-mount gives the operator a better line of site. You’re right there in the middle of everything. With a rear-mount, you’ve got to look over the entire truck, maybe 46 feet, to see to the front. That’s a little tricky to judge, if you’re trying to pick the best position for the aerial. A mid-mount gives the operator better visual control than a rear-mount.

For elevated waterways, there’s nothing better than a mid-mount, particularly a Sutphen with twin monitors.

Several years ago we had a large fire in downtown Columbia. When we got there, it looked as though we were going to loose the whole block. We had a ladder company come out of Jefferson City, which is 35 miles away, and they could see the smoke when they pulled out of their station.

We nosed an 85-foot mid-mount with twin monitors on the bucket, along side a mid-mount 50-foot Snozzle, a 50-foot Tele-Squrt rear-mount and another 95-foot mid-mount Sutphen platform, all on side one, and started giving it water like hell wouldn’t have it.

Saving An Entire Block

The water department determined that we were pumping just short of 10,000 gallons per minute. We had a 12-inch clearance exposure on side four, and all that was suffered was a little smoke and water damage.

I believe we would have lost the entire block if we weren’t able get those mid-mount apparatus nosed in there and flowing water quickly. A rear-mount, in that situation, wouldn’t have done what we needed.

Because I’ve been around so long in the fire service, I’ve had a chance to see a lot of rear-mounts in action and I’ve got to tell you I firmly believe that I’ve got a lot more flexibility with my mid-mounts than they do with their rear-mounts.

Editor’s Note: William Markgraf has been fire chief for Columbia, Mo., since 1988. He has been teaching in vocational and academic settings since the mid-1960s. He is a certified master instructor for the Illinois Fire Service. He left the position of director and professor of fire science at Columbia College to become fire chief for University City, a position he held for 11 years before joining the Columbia Fire Department. He is a past president of the Missouri Valley Association of Fire Chiefs and has served as recording secretary and instructor for the Fire Department Instructors Conference. Chief Markgraf is recognized nationally as an expert on the re-supply of self-contained breathing apparatus.