Corbett (OR) Fire District has 40 square miles in its protection district, with an additional 15 square miles under an EMS (emergency medical services) contract, as well as giving mutual aid to the U.S. Forest Service and the Oregon Department of Forestry as needed. The fire district has a paid fire chief and a district clerk, while the rest of the staff are 27 volunteer firefighters and EMTs who operate out of three stations.
David Flood, Corbett’s assistant chief, notes that the district is situated in the Columbia River gorge and has about 4,000 residents. “We have three Type 1 engines, two of which are HME Ahrens-Fox, two 3,000-gallon water tenders (tankers), a Type 3 4×4 wildland pumper, a rescue, two Type 6 4×4 wildland pumpers, and a light squad for rope rescue and swift water rescue,” Flood points out. We get a lot of trail calls and have to do technical rescue and swift water rescue frequently.”
Flood said the district needed to replace a 1995 Central States commercial chassis and cab pumper “that was stuffed to the gills with equipment. We don’t have an aerial ladder truck, so we had all our extrication equipment on that old pumper. We carry so much extrication equipment that we often had to unpack stuff on calls to get to what we needed.”
Ed Boring, fleet sales manager for HME Ahrens-Fox, says that Corbett Fire came to HME and purchased a rescue-pumper on an HME Ahrens-Fox 1871-W MFD-XL chassis and cab with a 12-inch raised roof, and seating for six firefighters, with four of them in Seats Inc. 911 SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) seats. He notes the rescue-pumper has a 183-inch wheelbase, an overall length of 30-feet, 11-inches, and an overall height of 9-feet, 7-inches.
“The rescue-pumper is powered by a 370-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3,000 EVS automatic transmission, and has a 1,500-gallon per minute Waterous CX pump, a UPF Poly® 890-gallon water tank, a 30-gallon foam cell, and a FoamPro 1600 single agent foam system,” Boring said. “This vehicle has our 164-inch rescue body with high side compartments that are 24-inches deep, and has 252-cubic-feet of storage space.”
Flood adds that the rescue-pumper has two 200-foot 1-3/4-inch cross lays, one 150-foot 2-1/2-inch cross lay, 150-feet of 2-1/2-inch hose dead lay, 100-feet of 2-inch hose preconnected to a 2-1/2-inch discharge in the extended front bumper, which can quickly be disconnected and then connected to a 400-gpm Akron Mercury Quick Attack LE portable monitor, and a Task Force Tips deck gun with an 18-inch Extend-A-Gun. The rear of the rig has a 2-1/2-inch discharge, while the hose bed carries 150 feet of 2-1/2-inch hose, a 100-foot bundle of 1-3/4-inch hose, and 1,500 feet of 4-inch LDH (large diameter hose).
Corbett Fire’s rescue-pumper carries hosed Holmatro hydraulic rescue tools with power heads in the R3 compartment. The tools include a cutter, spreader, three rams, and a selection of air bags. “Our new rescue-pumper has nice compartmentation that’s not stuffed so we can easily locate the equipment that we need,” Flood observes. “Besides the excellent storage on the rig, the turning radius and cramp angle on the vehicle are excellent, so we are very pleased with the vehicle.”
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.
