Occoquan-Woodbridge-Lorton (VA) Volunteer Fire Department, known regionally as OWL Fire Department, needed to replace a rearmount aerial platform. It chose to go with a midmount aerial platform built by Seagrave Fire Apparatus, a 95-foot Aerialscope on a Marauder chassis with a 141-inch full tilt cab.
Wayne Haight, OWL’s chief, says the department is a combo agency with career staff 24/7 at two of three firehouses along with medic units. “In our three stations we have six engines, a heavy rescue, a 105-foot tower and 110-foot ladder, (one in reserve), two brush trucks, a collapse/rescue unit, an air/light truck, three utility vehicles, four ambulances, and three rescue/fire boats,” Haight said.
Craig Williams, owner of Emergency Vehicle Services, who sold the truck to OWL, says the fire department already has four Seagrave pumpers, and two on the production line, so it was natural for the department to go with a Seagrave aerial for its fleet. “The fire department chose a raised roof on their Aerialscope to emulate the roofs on their Seagrave pumpers,” Williams points out.
Haight says that the department wanted to focus on where the truck would be placed at a fire scene. “A midmount aerial apparatus is much easier and quicker to set up at a fire scene than a rear mount rig,” he says, adding that the OWL Marauder Aerialscope is powered by a 500-horsepower (hp) Cummins X12 diesel engine with an Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission and a Telma Retarder Auxiliary Braking System.
Wheelbase on the truck is 247 inches, overall length is 46 feet 8 inches, and overall height is 11 feet, while the Dana D2200 front axle has a 22,800 pound rating and disk brakes, and the Dana D/R60 rear axle has a 57,2000 pound rating with S-Cam brakes. The Aerialscope’s cab is set up to seat six firefighters in H.O. Bostrom seats, and the aerial is stabilized by four straight-down stab jacks at the corners and two scissor-style outriggers midship with a jack spread of 20 feet 5 inches.
Williams points out that the OWL truck has a reinforced rear substructure, a Kussmaul Auto Charge EV40 battery charger, a Rosco DVXC4 camera system, stainless steel compartment doors, and 198 feet of ground ladders. In addition, he says, the rig’s platform carries a Stokes basket rack, a parapet ladder attachment, and an Akron Brass Company 3432 monitor with stacked tips.
The OWL Aerialscope also has a Harrison 10-kW hydraulic generator, Whelen M6 series LED warning lighting, and Whelen Pioneer LED scene lights.
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.
