Crimson Fire Reaches New Heights With ‘Boomer’

By Ed Ballam

The Boomer by Crimson Fire is an ingenious fixture for fire apparatus, combining a water tower, a light tower and a crane with a cluster of features help firefighters do their jobs better.

In national advertising Crimson, based in Brandon, S.D., compares the Boomer to a Swiss Army knife. Jim Salmi, president of the company, said it was designed to do a lot of jobs without breaking fire department budgets. He said he had been developing it in his mind for two years prior to production.

“The concept of the Boomer was to look at what fire departments are buying today and help them do a little better with what they are buying,” said Salmi. “We’re looking at providing a lot of enhancements and functionality to an apparatus that is affordable.”

A 28-Foot Mast

The core of the Boomer is a top-mounted 28-foot mast with lights, a 1,000 gpm master stream, high pressure hydraulic rescue tool connections and two handline discharges. The mast, or boom, is mounted midway on the apparatus body, offset to the left or right side to provide an unimpeded hosebed. A rear-mount 42-foot version is in the development stage, said Salmi, noting that placement of a Boomer on the rear of the apparatus will require an outrigger.

The Boomer is elevated by a hydraulic system and has an internal waterway capable of flowing up to 1,000 gpm. It can have up to eight 750-watt scene lights and the waterway can be rotated 360 degrees, from 10 degrees below grade to 90 degrees. With water at the tip, Salmi said it made sense to add two discharges for hand lines.

Because the hydraulic power is already at the head of the boom to control the monitor and to tilt the light heads, Salmi said it made sense to make that power available at the tip also for extrication tools. Along those same lines, having the 110-volt power also at the tip for the lights, he said it made sense to put electrical receptacles up there as well. The whole thing, including energizing the lights and swiveling the monitor, is operated by a hand-held wireless remote control.

“Fire trucks are responding to a lot of other calls and are being asked to do more than fight fire,” Salmi said. “The Boomer will have a lot of applications for hydraulic rescue tools as well as providing power and lighting at the scene. It might not be fighting fire all the time, but it can help save lives.”

Salmi said he came up with the concept for the Boomer, almost by a doodle. He was sketching a circle within a circle and joining the two together with internal fins. It stuck him as so simple that he had to find a way to use it. He said the design allows water to flow in the center circle to the monitor while the voids between the fins make perfect places for hydraulic lines, electrical lines and control wires.

Salmi said the boom is a single-piece of extruded aluminum to which the accessories and the elevating piston are attached. It doesn’t telescope, but he pointed out it will nicely fit the bill as an elevated master stream and a light tower, as well as a mast for an antenna for improved communications in disaster areas at an affordable price.

Two discharges are mounted at the tip of the Boomer to allow firefighters to attach hand lines at the tip for faster fire suppression over embankments or other hard-to-reach locations.

The Boomer that was on display at the Fire Department Instructors Conference was mounted on an International crew cab and chassis. Crimson Fire, the maker of the Boomer, said the device was designed to give firefighters a lot of versality at an affordable price.       (Crimson Fire Photos)

Crimson Fire’s Boomer works as an effective light tower, capable of supporting up to eight light heads for a total of 6,000 watts of lighting. The light heads can be tilted and rotated using hydraulic power at the tip.

“Aerial products have gotten to be significant investments these days,” Salmi said. “When you start talking aerials, you’re looking at a half-million dollars, and there are times you can even hit seven figures.”

On the other hand, the Boomer, which was shown to the public for the first time last month during the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis, represents an investment of about $50,000 with lots of bells and whistles. The unit at the show was mounted on an International 4400 series four-door cab and chassis with a 750-gallon tank and a 1,500 gpm pump and had a price tag of $305,000.

“This has a lot of interesting capabilities that takes it way beyond a normal apparatus for not a lot of money,” Salmi said. The sum total of the different components on the Boomer, he said, would likely add up to more than its cost if specified separately on a pumper, and they would provide less functionality with more weight.

Vehicle weight was on Salmi’s mind as he developed the product. He pointed out that a 75-foot aerial adds 13,000 to 14,000 pounds to an apparatus, while a 50-foot TeleSqurt-type fixture adds up to 8,000 pounds to the overall weight of the vehicle. The Boomer, as shown in Indianapolis, weighs 2,000 pounds.

“Anytime you reduce your gross vehicle weight (GVW), you keep the cost down,” Salmi said, because a beefier suspension and axle system is required to handle the extra weight of traditional aerial devices, not to mention the extra expense of a larger engine and transmission.

Only 300 Different Parts

The Boomer has 300 different parts, compared to a traditional aerial device, which has more than 1,800, according to Salmi. “We have a philosophy to keep it simple,” he said, noting that maintenance on the device will be much easier than a traditional aerial.

Domestic sales of the Boomer will be handled exclusively by Crimson Fire, a wholly-owned division of Spartan Motors, and available only on Crimson apparatus, Salmi said.

International sales of the device will be handled by the W.S. Darley & Company, which has a network of dealers in more than 100 countries worldwide and will have exclusive rights to sell The Boomer outside North America.

“We think the Boomer fills a tremendous hole in the market,” said Peter Darley, chief operating officer of W.S. Darley. “This unique device brings expanded capabilities to the market at a very attractive price, which will make it successful both inside and outside the United States.”

Based on comments received at FDIC, Salmi expects the Boomer to be embraced by the fire service.

He commented that one firefighter told him about a recent accident where a car went off the road and over a bank, making it difficult to access and, more importantly, difficult to see because it was away from the apparatus. The light from the Boomer and the lifting lug would have proved useful at that scene.

“It’s nice to know that something like this will make a difference,” Salmi said.

For information call 605-582-4000 or go to www.crimson-fire.com.