The Earleigh Heights (MD) Volunteer Fire Company had a 2000 walk-around rescue truck that had a lot of miles on it and a lot of heavy use, which necessitated its replacement.
The department wanted to replace it with a vehicle that had more storage space as well as inside space to carry firefighters and use in cold weather rehab. The department chose SVI Trucks to build its new heavy technical rescue.
Dave Crawford, Earleigh Heights chief, says the department has three major state highways running through its coverage area—Routes 2, 10, and 100—which means firefighters respond to a lot of motor vehicle accidents and vehicle extrications.
“Our station covers not only our own district, but we are on box assignments for seven miles around in all directions,” Crawford observes. “We border on the Severn River, so we wanted a rescue with more space on it to hold all of our technical rescue equipment, and the firefighters wanted a walk-in body that was more conducive to cold weather rehab where they could get out of the elements.”
Jim Featherstone, the co-owner of Red Storm Fire and Rescue Apparatus, who sold the rescue to Earleigh Heights, says that while SVI has a strong relationship with Spartan and Sutphen, it will build a truck on any chassis the fire department wants. “Earleigh Heights wanted their heavy technical rescue built on a Seagrave chassis, which is what we did,” Featherstone says. “The build was a smooth process, even though it was Red Storm’s first experience in dealing with a Seagrave chassis.”
1 SVI Trucks built this walk-in heavy technical rescue for Earleigh Heights on a Seagrave Attacker chassis with a two-door stainless-steel cab and a 24-foot stainless-steel body. (Photos courtesy of SVI Trucks.)
2 The wheelbase on the unit is 203 inches, the overall length is 36 feet, and the overall height is 10 feet 8 inches.
3 It is powered by a 500-hp Cummins X12 diesel engine and an Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission with a Telma engine retarder.
4 The L1 and R1 compartments are set up as transverse to carry the department’s Paratech rescue struts.
department
Earleigh Heights (MD) Volunteer Fire Company
Strength: Combination department with 4 full-time paid firefighters, one part-time paid lieutenant, and 62 volunteer firefighters; one fire station.
Service area: Provides fire, rescue, and emergency medical services (EMS) to a 10-square-mile area with a population of 27,000 in Anne Arundel County, responding to 5,200 calls per year.
Other apparatus: 2022 Pierce pumper, 2,000-gpm pump, 750-gallon water tank; 2015 Pierce pumper, 2,000-gpm pump, 750-gallon water tank; Ford F-450 brush truck, 200-gpm pump, 200-gallon water tank; high-profile truck for high water and snow response; one ambulance; one medic unit.
Dwayne Woodard, regional sales manager for SVI Trucks, says the heavy technical rescue is built on a Seagrave Attacker chassis with a two-door stainless-steel cab and a 24-foot stainless-steel walk-in body. The wheelbase on the truck is 203 inches, the overall length is 36 feet, and the overall height is 10 feet 8 inches. The rig is powered by a 500-horsepower (hp) Cummins X12 diesel engine and an Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission with a Telma engine retarder.
The walk-in body is accessed from the rear and holds a desk, storage cabinets, and a bench seat for six firefighters in Zico walkaway type self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) bracket positions. The rescue carries a Resolve Specialty Space Saver mobile two-bottle filling station in the street side rear compartment, four ASME air cylinders, an air cascade system with a Sierra booster system, an Onan Protec 30-kW power takeoff generator, and a Command Light Knight Slim light tower.
Woodard points out that the front compartment on the rescue’s body is transverse and carries the department’s Paratech rescue struts, while the second compartment on each side holds extrication tools. “The department does a lot of extrication work because of the many highways in their district,” he says. “So, one side of the rescue has HURST Jaws of Life eDraulic battery-operated rescue tools and the other side has two hosed HURST hydraulic tools with two Hannay hydraulic hose reels with power rewind.”
5 It has a Resolve Specialty Space Saver mobile two-bottle filling station in the L5 compartment.
6 The interior of the walk-in body is accessed from the rear and has seating for six firefighters in Zico walkaway SCBA brackets as well as storage space for the department’s water rescue, rope rescue, and other technical rescue equipment.
specs
SVI Trucks Walk-in Heavy Technical Rescue
- Seagrave Attacker chassis and two-person stainless-steel cab
- 24-foot walk-in rescue body with seating for six firefighters in SCBA seats
- 203-inch wheelbase
- Overall length: 36 feet
- Overall height: 10 feet 8 inches
- 500-hp Cummins X12 diesel engine
- Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission
- Command Light KL Slim KL415D-H4 light tower
- Resolve Specialty Space Saver mobile filling station
- Winch in front bumper with five receiving points around truck
The SVI heavy technical rescue has a Warn Zeon 8,000-pound portable winch mounted in the front bumper, with five receivers in the body—two on each side and one at the rear.
“Earleigh Heights had us install six high anchor points on the rescue,” Woodard notes. “These are Crosby stainless-steel swivel hoist rings recessed into the body, two on each side and two at the rear of the vehicle.”
Water rescue, rope rescue, and other technical rescue equipment is stored in the cabinets inside the walk-in space. Other compartments feature OnScene Solutions heavy-duty aluminum cargo slides, and one compartment has a Lista drawer cabinet.
Lighting on the Earleigh Heights heavy technical rescue includes HiViz Quad LED headlights, a HiViz LED front scene light, a Whelen Edge® Ultra Freedom™ IV LC series LED 81-inch light bar, two side-facing Whelen Mini LED 21½-inch light bars, Mars 888 front warning lights, a Roto-Ray 4000W LED light, Whelen Super-LED® warning lights, and a Whelen LED Traffic Advisor.
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.
