Fluvanna (NY) Fire Department needed a rescue-pumper with a large water tank, plenty of storage capacity, and lots of LED lighting to cover the variety of fire suppression and rescue situations that it experiences in the Chautauqua Lake area of western New York State, so to fulfill those particular requirements the department turned to HME Ahrens-Fox.
Walid Al-Jabiri, Fluvanna’s first assistant chief, says the department provides fire, rescue and EMS services to four townships along the eastern coast of Chautauqua Lake where there are only dry hydrants. Fluvanna is an all volunteer department with 40 active firefighters operating out of two stations that houses two engines, one tanker, an ambulance and a rescue truck supplied by the county that protect a combination of suburban and rural residences, commercial structures, schools, nursing homes, the Jamestown airport, and two major state highways.
“We needed to replace an aging mid-1990s Pierce engine that had been eaten away by the salt and snow that we get out here in western New York,” Al-Jabiri observes. “Besides, the old engine only had seating for four firefighters.”
Russell Chick, HME Ahrens-Fox’s marketing and communications director, says HME built a rescue-pumper for the department on an HME AF1 chassis and MFDxl-12 cab with a galvanized frame, stainless steel body, and a one-piece windshield, with seating for six firefighters, five of them in H.O. Bostrom SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) seats.
Chick says the rescue-pumper has a wheelbase of 194 inches, an overall length of 32 feet 8 inches, and an overall height of 9 feet 7 inches, powered by a Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission. He notes that the Fluvanna rescue-pumper has a Hale Qmax 1,500 gallon per minute (gpm) pump, a 1,000-gallon water tank, a 30-gallon UPF Poly® foam tank, and a Hale FoamLogix 2.1 foam proportioning system.
Al-Jabiri says the new rescue-pumper has a front bumper line of 100 feet of 1-3/4-inch hose; three cross lays, two 1-3/4-inch and one 2-1/2-inch hose lines of 215 feet each; and a Task Force Tips deck gun with Extend-a-Gun fixture.
“We carry 1,000 feet of 4-inch LDH (large diameter hose) in our hose bed, along with 300 feet of 2-1/2-inch dead lay, and 300 feet of 3-inch dead lay,” he adds. “The equipment in our compartments are all mounted on slide-out trays, roll-out boards, and swing-out tool boards.”
He continues, “The driver’s side of the rescue-pumper is set up for fire suppression and the officer’s side for rescue, where we are carrying a full complement of Genesis hosed hydraulic tools, a spreader, cutter, rams and hydraulic reels, plus cribbing, a res-Q-jack, vent fans, portable pumps, and electric cord reels.”
Al-Jabiri pointed out that the department wanted a lot of LED lighting on the new rig, so it added an onboard inverter and Whelen LED directional scene lighting, Whelen fixed scene lights, a Hi Viz Fire Tech LED brow light, and Royce Industries LED ground lighting around the entire vehicle.
He notes that the rescue-pumper has full-height and full-depth compartments on both sides of the rig, covered by Gortite roll-up doors. Ground ladders are carried in a rear-access ladder tunnel, which also stores three lengths of hard suction, and an assortment of pike poles. “We especially like the HME’s cab, which is very quiet,” Al-Jabiri says, “along with its seat belt sensor system that displays in front of the driver and officer to show that all seated firefighters are belted in.”
A notable element of the new rescue-pumper, Al-Jabiri says, is the American flag emblazoned across the sides of the apparatus. “We had them put the American flag composed of 3M™ reflective material across the three compartments on each side of the rescue-pumper,” he points out, “to show our respect for our country and the service that we are providing.”
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.
