Hamburg (NY) Fire Department has a 25-year apparatus replacement program in place, but when it came time to replace a 1991 midmount platform, the price of aerials had increased so much that it put off the purchase a few more years. Ultimately, the department chose to buy a Smeal 100-foot rear mount aerial platform.
Tom Moses, Hamburg’s second assistant chief and chair of the 10-person truck committee, points out that the committee had many discussions on the merits and drawbacks of midmount and rear mount aerial platforms. “With our previous midmount, we had some minor accidents with the rear platform when making turns,” Moses says. “There also was concern with a couple of blind intersections about driving a rear mount with the platform hanging over the front of the vehicle, so we went to those intersections and took measurements to be sure our drivers could clear them driving a rear mount platform.” Moses adds that another consideration was the rear mount’s price was about $100,000 less than a comparable midmount aerial platform.
Jack Chiappone Jr., sales specialist for Colden Enterprises Fire & Rescue Division, who sold the Smeal platform to Hamburg, says the 100-foot three-section aerial rear mount platform is built on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and cab with seating for seven firefighters, six in H.O. Bostrom SecureALL™ SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) seats, powered by a 600-horsepower (hp) Cummins X15 diesel engine, and an Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission.
Chiappone notes the rear mount platform has a Hale QMax 2,000-gallon per minute (gpm) pump, a 300-gallon water tank, two 1-3/4-inch hose cross lays, and one 2-1/2-inch hose cross lay, and a 10-kilowatt Harrison generator. “The department wanted more ground ladders, and more compartment space, but no hose bed,” he says. “We were able to give them 300 cubic feet of 25-inch deep full depth and full height compartments, and 151 feet of ground ladders on the truck.”
Chuck Glagola, regional account manager for Spartan ER, says the Smeal rear mount platform has two Akron Brass Company StreamMaster II electronic monitors, one with quad stacked straight tips with a stream straightener, and the other a combination nozzle. “The truck has a 750-pound (lb) tip load dry,” Glagola says, “and a 625-lb. tip load wet while flowing 1,500-gpm out of one of its monitors. On flat, level ground, the aerial can go to minus-12 degrees with the vehicle one foot off the ground and have a 255-degree sweep.”
Chiappone adds that the rear mount platform has four out-and-down deep penetration jacks that have extra length to level the machine when the truck is operated on a slope or hill. He says the 16-foot jack spread can be short jacked, and a safety feature will keep the truck to 20 degrees on the short jack side and unrestricted on the full jack side. Wheelbase on the rear mount platform is 253 inches, overall length is 49 feet 6 inches, and overall height is 12 feet 8 inches.
On the platform, besides the two Akron Brass monitors, there is a 2-1/2-inch discharge off the front, a parapet ladder fixture to hold a 14-foot roof ladder attached to the aerial’s fly section, a 500-pound rated rappelling device that can support a Stokes stretcher that’s attached to the driver’s side of the bucket, and two 45-degree angled doors with openings that will fit an EMS (emergency medical services) stair chair.
Moses says that the department has had excellent experience with the Smeal rear mount platform. “We’ve used it to flow a lot of water at a working fire at an apartment complex in a mutual aid fire district,” he says, “and in our own district have handled structure fires and parapet and roof top work. We recently had a cardiac arrest on a roof top and used the rear mount platform to take the victim down to the ground. The biggest reason for having our aerial platform is the number of tall buildings in our district, including several three-story assisted living buildings, a six-story senior independent living facility, a five-story hotel, five churches, and five large school buildings.”
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Ariz.-based journalist, the author of three novels and five non-fiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment editorial advisory board. He served 22 years with Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including the position of chief.
