Cornelia (GA) Fire Department protects a city fire district in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Northeastern Georgia with a combination department of 19 paid full-time and volunteer firefighters from two fire stations. When the department found it needed two new pumpers, it checked out a Marion Body Works pumper built for the adjacent city of Clarksville, and liking what it saw, the department chose Marion to build it two identical engines.
Calvin Kanowitz, marketing and dealer development manager for Marion, says the two identical Cornelia pumpers are built on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and LFD cabs with 10-inch raised roof and seating for four firefighters, three of them in SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) seats. Kanowitz notes the pumpers are powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission, and carry a Waterous CSU 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) single stage pump, an UPF Poly® III 750-gallon water tank, a 30-gallon foam tank, and a Waterous Aquis 3.0 foam proportioning system.
Kanowitz adds that the UPF L-style tank is much higher in the front up against the back of the cab, allowing Marion to give Cornelia the low hose bed on the engines that they requested. The pumpers also have a 1,250-gpm Task Force Tips Crossfire® deck gun with an 18-inch TFT Extend-A-Gun, ground ladders in a compartment above the water tank, and high rise packs and a TFT Blitzfire® hose line above the ladder compartment.
Chuck Miller, owner of Fearless Flames, who sold the two pumpers to Cornelia, says the department wanted as much compartment space on the engines as possible, notably because it may have to deal with potential hazardous materials issues where a railroad runs through the city’s downtown. Miller says wheelbase on the pumpers is 211 inches, overall length is 33 feet 7 inches, and overall height of 9 feet 8 inches. “The pumpers have barrier-free doors that can be opened over guardrails,” Miller points out, “Stokes basket storage in a rear compartment, and a hose bed that holds 1,000 feet of 5-inch LDH (large diameter hose), and 600 feet of 3-inch hose.”
Miller says the engines have a mechanical pressure relief valve, Trident hand wheel operated discharge controls, and push-pull controls for the cross lays. The rigs have a 2-1/2-inch discharge on the front bumper connected to a gated wye, two 2-1/2-inch discharges at the rear (one preconnected to a TFT BlitzFire), two 1-3/4-inch cross lays above the pump panel, two 2-1/2-inch swing valve locking discharges at the operator’s panel, one 3-inch and one 2-1/2-inch discharge on the right side, and left and right master intake valves on the six-inch intakes (manual on the operator’s side and electric on the curb side). He adds that the pumpers have David Clark hard-wired intercom headset systems, and Hi Viz Fire Tech 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.
