The Los Angeles City (CA) Fire Department RTX, built by Rosenbauer, is an electric-drive pumper in service at its Fire Station 82 near Hollywood.
The pumper is powered by two Volvo Penta batteries of 66 kilowatts (kW) each, with a charge capacity of 132 kW, enabling fully electric operation for roughly two hours and covering around 90 percent of all applications, according to Todd McBride, Rosenbauer’s RTX sales and marketing manager. He notes driving performance of the RTX is 360 kW peak and 260 kW continuous, which is equivalent to 490 horsepower (hp) and 350 hp, respectively.
The RTX has a 173-inch wheelbase, a 4-stage electronic regenerative braking system with 17-inch disc brakes, an Automatic Braking System (ABS), an Electronic Stability Control System (ECS), and an Automatic Drive Management System (ADM), he says.
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1 The Los Angeles City (CA) Fire Department has put in service an electric-drive pumper, the RTX, built by Rosenbauer. (Photos courtesy of Rosenbauer.)
department
Los Angeles City (CA) Fire Department
Strength: 3,400 paid full-time firefighters; 104 stations.
Service area: Provides fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, rescue, emergency medical services, fire cause determination, and fire prevention services to a population of 3.97 million people in the 502-square-mile city.
Other apparatus: 140 pumpers, 43 tractor-drawn aerial ladders, two hazardous materials units, two urban search and rescue units, six Type 3 wildland engines, four Type 6 quick response pumpers, one command vehicle, one 50-ton three-axle tow truck/heavy wrecker, six helicopters for air operations, seven boats for marine operations, and 94 advanced life support ambulances staffed by firefighter/paramedics and firefighter/EMTs.
Los Angeles Deputy Chief Richard Fields points out that the Rosenbauer RTX electric fire engine is an innovative tool that will help reduce noise and harmful diesel emissions and provide a flexible tool for firefighting and rescue operations from a technologically advanced platform. “We are one of the largest metropolitan fire departments in the country,” he says, “with 104 fire stations and 3,400 sworn firefighters.”
The Rosenbauer RTX electric fire truck is assigned to Fire Station 82 that covers most of the area just east of Hollywood. “It’s a single-engine station that also houses a rescue (an advanced life support ambulance) and a Type 3 wildland engine,” Fields states. “Station 82 is one of our newest and most modern fire stations with a lot of the newest green technology in it. Its coverage area is one of the most complex with just about every type of response we can have, from various kinds of structures in widely differing ages and building types, a lot of narrow roads in the Hollywood hills, brush fire threat areas, and technical rescue response areas. Station 82 has numerous call type opportunities, which will be a good test of the RTX in various call environments, especially with its four-wheel drive and pump-and-roll capabilities.”
2 The RTX has two gated 6-inch rear intakes, two gated 2½-inch rear intakes, and an all-digital pump panel in the L3 compartment
3 The pumper carries a 1,000-gpm RM35 selectable flow roof turret operated by a joystick inside the cab instead of a deck gun.
4 The RTX has a 173-inch wheelbase and is powered by two Volvo Penta batteries of 66 kW each, with a charge capacity of 132 kW.
5 The 1,500-gpm Rosenbauer NH high-pressure pump on the RTX is driven by a 3-liter 300-hp 6-cylinder BMW clean diesel engine that also serves as a range extender for the vehicle.
Fields adds that with the newer Station 82, the department didn’t need to build a lot of infrastructure to charge the RTX in station. “Besides,” he says, “a lot of the charging of the RTX’s batteries is done through normal driving, and a range extender on the pumper runs the fire pump and charges the batteries. If the RTX doesn’t get plugged in, the range extender kicks in and charges the batteries as its secondary responsibility.”
McBride says that the Los Angeles City RTX has a Rosenbauer 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) NH high-pressure pump, a 500-gallon water tank, a 26-gallon foam tank, and a Rosenbauer Aquamatic foam injection system that allows the operator to identify the percent of foam for each discharge or to flow only water when needed. The fire pump can be operated off of the vehicle’s batteries but, in Los Angeles City’s case, is powered by a 3-liter 300-hp 6-cylinder BMW clean diesel engine, McBride adds.
6 The RTX has two 200-foot 1¾-inch crosslays and one crosslay of 500 feet of 1-inch forestry hose.
7 The RTX has a 4-stage electronic regenerative braking system, an Automatic Braking System, an Electronic Stability Control System, and an Automatic Drive Management System.
8 The RTX’s cab is set up to carry six firefighters in a clean cab concept.
Specs
Rosenbauer RTX Pumper
- Rosenbauer RTX electric fire engine with seating for six firefighters in a clean cab concept
- All-wheel drive/dual electric motor
- Two Volvo Penta batteries totaling 132 kW of power
- 3-liter 300-hp six-cylinder BMW clean diesel engine and range extender
- 4-stage electronic regenerative braking and 17-inch disc brakes
- 4-mode adjustable suspension for ground clearance
- 1,500-gpm Rosenbauer NH high-pressure pump
- 500-gallon water tank
- 26-gallon foam tank
- Rosenbauer Aquamatic foam injection system
- 1,000-gpm RM35 selectable flow roof turret
- Two 200-foot 1¾-inch hose crosslays
- One crosslay of 500-foot 1-inch forestry hose dead lay
- One booster reel holding 100 feet of 1-inch booster hose
Fields notes that the diesel combustion engine’s primary function is to run the fire pump. “Our department standard and that of the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) require a certain amount of pumping capacity, and we didn’t want to rely entirely on an electric motor to accomplish that, especially in an extended operation,” Fields says.
The RTX electric fire pumper has seating for six firefighters in a clean cab concept, Fields adds, with self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) stored in outside compartments. The SCBA for the driver and officer are located in the L1 and R1 compartments respectively, while the SCBA for the four-firefighter crew are located in the L3 compartment, all in Zico SCBA brackets.
“Los Angeles City’s RTX has all-wheel drive capability and a Hendrickson adjustable air suspension with four different ground clearance heights or modes,” McBride says. “The four modes are a scene operation mode at 7 inches off the ground, a drive mode at 10 inches, an off-road mode at 14 inches, and a flood mode at 19 inches. With its weatherproof drivetrain, the RTX can drive through three feet of water.”
The pumper has discharges in the left and right rear compartments, with the left side having three 2½-inch discharges and the right side one 4-inch and two 2½-inch discharges. The rig also has two 200-foot 1¾-inch hose crosslays, one crosslay of 500-foot one-inch forestry hose dead lay, and a 1-inch booster hose reel in a rear compartment. Ground ladders are carried in a slide-in rear storage compartment.
Instead of a traditional deck gun, the RTX carries a 1,000-gpm RM35 selectable flow roof turret, McBride says. “Since there’s no power takeoff (PTO) for the pump, Los Angeles City can do pump and roll with the roof turret as if they were attacking an aircraft fire. “The roof turret allows them to do a quick knockdown and has an adjustable flow, starting out at 250 gpm, and then selections at 50%, 75%, and 100% of maximum turret flow,” he points out. “The turret is controlled by a joystick from inside the cab, and to increase the flow the operator only has to tap a button. And the RM35 roof turret has a target memory system in its monitor where it can record a pattern and then continue to use that pattern without further input.”
The RTX also has two gated 6-inch rear intakes and two 2½-inch gated rear intakes as well as an all-digital pump panel in the L3 compartment. The hosebed on the RTX carries 750 feet of 4-inch large-diameter hose and 750 feet of 2½-inch hose. The vehicle also has electronic video screens on each side of the console instead of wing mirrors, McBride adds, which was one way Rosenbauer was able to narrow the pumper’s overall envelope.
Fields points out, “There are other hybrid electric pumpers out there, but there is nothing like the Rosenbauer RTX. Its all-electric-drive technology gave us an opportunity to be the leader and the first in the country to put it in service. Rosenbauer designed the vehicle to our specifications, and every bit of equipment that’s on our traditional engines is on the RTX. Some of it may be in a different location, but it is there. Rosenbauer’s approach to firefighter functionality is they design the vehicle so the firefighter doesn’t have to expend unnecessary energy in operating the rig or in locating equipment.”
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.
