Forestport (NY) Fire Department had a need for a quick-hitting, four-wheel-drive, first-attack pumper that could negotiate the many back roads and private driveways that are found in its fire protection district. The department had previously purchased a 2021 tanker (tender) from Fort Garry Fire Trucks, and was so satisfied with the purchase that they went back to Fort Garry to build a 4×4 mini-pumper with a large capacity pump.
Rob Pike, Fort Garry’s corporate services manager, says the Forestport mini-pumper is built on a 4×4 Ford F-550 chassis and an XL crew cab with seating for four firefighters, a high-both-sides rescue style body made of extruded 5083 saltwater marine-grade aluminum, powered by a 6.7-liter four-valve OHV V-8 turbo-charged diesel engine, and a 10-speed automatic transmission. Pike says the mini-pumper has a 7,000-pound front axle, and a 14,700-pound rear axle, and carries a Hale DSD 1,250-gallon per minute (gpm) side-mount midship pump, and a 300-gallon water tank.
Philip Vander Molen, owner and president of Vander Molen Fire Apparatus Sales & Service, who sold the mini-pumper to Forestport, notes that the Adirondack League Club, an organization with a lot of large, older estate homes and high-end lake houses in Forestport’s district, typically are gated residences on narrow, hard-to-negotiate private roads. “The department needed a rig that could negotiate those narrow roads, especially in winter, and get in to do an initial attack and then nurse off of their tanker truck,” Vander Molen points out.
Vander Molen adds that because of the winter use of salt on the roadways in the Adirondacks, the truck was made with 5083 saltwater aluminum, which is highly corrosion resistant. “Also, to keep the pumper’s pump and gauges from freezing, we installed gauge heaters, panel heaters, and two 16,000-BTU pump heaters that fully enclose the bottom of the pump to trap heat,” he says.
Dave Schuler, Forestport’s president, says the department is a rural one that covers 244 square miles in the Adirondack mountains in northern New York State. “Because we cover so much forested land in addition to the town of Forestport, we needed an apparatus that was designed to operate in difficult terrain,” Schuler says. “We have two Type 1 engines, a 4×4 Chevy rescue truck, and two tankers, but needed a quick-attack rig that could make an initial attack in some of the more remote areas. That’s why we went with the Fort Garry mini-pumper, and our chief, Mike Clover, was instrumental in getting this pumper done.”
Pike says that the mini-pumper has 6-inch and 2-1/2-inch suction inlets, four 2-1/2-inch discharges, two 1-3/4-inch hose cross lays, a booster reel with 100 feet of one-inch hose, and a monitor standpipe. The rig carries two eight-foot sections of 6-inch hard suction, a 14-foot ladder, a Federal Signal Smart Siren with a 100-watt speaker, a Whelen LED warning light package, a Whelen 56-inch LED light bar, and Whelen LED Pioneer, M6 and M9 scene lights.
Vander Molen notes that Forestport plans on converting the mini-pumper to 40-inch Super Single wheels and tires that will give the equivalent of seven inches of lift to the vehicle, and add a Buck Stop front bumper with a 16,000-pound Warn winch with synthetic cable.
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.
