When designing a fire apparatus, numerous factors come into play, including the community you protect and its unique characteristics, department standard operating procedures, and efficiency on scene. Preconnects and their location have received greater attention in recent years, and their location will impact the rig you build. This month, we asked Bill Adams (left) and Ricky Riley (right), “Are crosslays necessary if you’ve spec’d your pumper with preconnects and/or bumper lines?”

Crosslays Are Not Necessary or Recommended

No commentator or apparatus manufacturer (OEM) has the right to dictate the number, type, size, or locations of hose storage for attack lines. The same applies to the discharges supplying them. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus (2016 ed.), should not either. It is not in the standard’s purview to dictate fireground operations. Ensuring a fire truck is built to safely operate is.

The soon-to-expire NFPA 1901 states in Chapter 5.7* Hose Storage: “Hose bed area(s), compartments, or reels that comply with Section 15.10 shall be provided to accommodate the following:

(1) A minimum hose storage area of 30 ft3 (0.8 m3) for 2½-in. (65 mm) or larger fire hose and (2) two areas, each a minimum of 3.5 ft3 (0.1 m3), to accommodate 1½-in. (38 mm) or larger preconnected fire hose lines.”

Interestingly, there is no place in NFPA 1901 or its replacement that says the areas “have to be” preconnected. Preconnecting them is a nonwritten requirement both purchaser and manufacturer assume—that infamous word compiled from three short ones. Having preconnects and their location should be at the sole discretion of each fire department. Many departments successfully use static beds “pulling and breaking” hose as needed.

CROSSLAYS

Since the late 1940s, crosslays (aka mattydales) are transverse beds for preconnected hose located above traditional pump houses—formerly mounted above them and now structurally integrated into them. Apparatus with locker compartments ahead of the pump house often have similar crosslays. Rigs with top-mount pump panels have historically called transverse preconnects speedlays. They are stacked below the operator’s panel or just behind the cab. Call them what you want. There are no rules. With nontraditional pump and operator panel locations, transverse tray-mounted preconnects have been located just about anywhere piping could be routed to them.

BUYER BEWARE

In my first 15 years in three different volunteer departments, newer pumpers had preconnects that were pulled off the rear. They were always loaded in the main hosebed and were mostly flat-loaded two tiers wide. The last department used a reverse horseshoe load that worked very well. A new pumper purchased in 1977 had two crosslays built into the pump house. The salesman said they were “standard” and came with every rig—whether we wanted them or not. That wasn’t the case then nor is it now.

Most manufacturers’ demo or stock apparatus have crosslays as a standard feature. “Ordered” rigs don’t have to. Preconnects and their locations should be at the fire department’s discretion—not the vendor’s. The trend is to specify a crosslay for a specific size and amount of hose. Unless there is forethought in the design and specification writing process, the fire department might be locked into that size and length preconnect for as long as it owns the rig.

SAFETY

Pump operators should be wary of a couple of crosslays located at head level being pumped at 150 pounds per square inch or more. It can be an uneasy feeling similar to having a charged supply line located at waist level or lower.

Repacking crosslays is inherently dangerous when firefighters must balance themselves on 10-inch to 12-inch-deep running boards while holding on with one hand and passing hose up with the other. Often, a third firefighter has to get on top of the pump house.

Every fold in a preconnect is a potential kink when making a stretch. A 200-foot long preconnect in a 6-foot-wide crosslay has more individual folds than one in a 10-foot-long rear hosebed. Deploying a crosslay is dangerous if the firefighter must climb onto the apparatus to reach it.

Consider apparatus placement. Pumpers are not always parked in the middle of a street. Often, they’re pulled to one side, allowing other rigs to pass. Contemplate narrow streets, alleys, and long driveways. Fire trucks are over 8 feet wide and crosslays 6 feet long. There’s a possibility firefighters will be pulling crosslays (or any transverse hose load) into a traffic lane. They can be impeded by a parked car or a building. The worst case scenario is backing up into an unseen drainage ditch.

FIREGROUND OPERATIONS

In departments with ladder trucks, the first-due engine always pulls past the structure, leaving room for the aerial device. An added advantage of pulling past is enabling the officer to size up three sides before getting out of the cab. That is an enhancement for having preconnects in the rear hosebed—you’re pulling hose in the direction it’s going.

Because the final positioning of the first engine is never guaranteed, nirvana is having preconnects accessible on all four sides. If you can afford it and have the room, go for it. For other than structure fires, where to locate a preconnect is a crapshoot.

REALITY

If a fire department has established locations and functional methods of deploying preconnects, so be it. If it is unwilling to look at alternate methods, so be that also. The number and location of preconnects is solely the department’s choice. It is disingenuous and detrimental to firefighters staffing a pumper if a preconnect location is chosen based on price over safety and functionality. Quick and efficient deployment and repacking is important. Firefighter safety is priority one.

Think outside the box. Crosslays are not mandatory. There are alternatives. Consider mounting preconnects in trays underneath the main hosebed. Use preconnected electric rewind reels. If manufacturers can slide ladders and suction hose through or into a booster tank at the rear of the apparatus, it stands to reason they can slide a hose tray into the tank at any location on the rig.

BILL ADAMS is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board, a former fire apparatus salesman, and a past chief of the East Rochester (NY) Fire Department. He has 50 years of experience in the volunteer fire service.

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Locate Preconnects Where They Make the Most Sense for Your Operations

Our editor has come up with a question that is often asked in the region of the country in which I work and revolves around departments looking at the need for crosslays, or mattydales if that is what you prefer to call them, depending on their setup on the front and rear. And, as usual with the world of fire apparatus specification and the need for operational capabilities, there is no clearcut answer.

While we have seen a growing trend toward rear preconnects and deleting crosslays on rigs, this is based on these departments’ operational designs, operating policies, and training regimes. All of these must come into play when designing rigs to operate in each department’s geographic location. And, staffing numbers, accepted operating procedures, training, and department policies all play a hand in designing preconnected or deadlay attack lines on any engine company. None of us should blindly adopt a hosebed, crosslay, or bumper line design without considering all the factors listed above. Just designing a rig based on another department’s layout is not good for any department. The way departments operate is unique depending on the department, region, state, or location in the country. So, being diligent in the design process to ensure it works is crucial to apparatus purchasing.

REAR PRECONNECTS

Properly position rear preconnects or static beds of attack line in the apparatus hosebed to assist in hose deployment. Recognize that we are limiting our choices of deployment based on how we position the rig for easier stretching, being mindful of blocking other apparatus, and recognizing the design is for a geographic response area. The rear attack line beds usually make chauffeurs think of pulling past the fire address to allow for attack line deployment and to leave room for the first arriving truck company. This all works great if it is your department’s policy and is supported by training for drivers and firefighters so that it is a practiced function for all those involved. Being brought up on crosslays most of my life, the switch to the rear lines for all these deployments was rather easy. The benefits of ease of stretching, getting the rig out of the way, and making it standard across the fleet have helped many departments regardless of geographic challenges. Deleting crosslays also can allow for a smaller pump house to make the overall wheelbase shorter and assist with gaining extra space in the dunnage area above the fire pump for equipment storage. Space and storage are always concerns when designing apparatus as we see the trend toward making smaller rigs rather than long engines that require a football field to turn around in or make corners today.

BUMPER LINES

The best of both worlds is to have lines off the rear and the ability to deploy lines off a rig’s front bumper. This will allow positioning the engine to either pull beyond the fire or stop short of the fire to leave room for the truck company to properly position on the fire structure. The front bumper lines in today’s fire truck building world require a lot of thought and design by both the department apparatus committee and the manufacturer’s engineers because space on the front bumper can become very cramped. That includes emergency lighting, audible warning devices, additional driving lights, and enough structural supports to allow for proper weight distribution and stability to the front bumper. There are many designs for storing attack lines on the front bumper. Depending on the needs of different departments, they may not all be options. There are plenty of engines that require an increased angle of approach, and a 10- to 26-inch bumper extension will decrease that angle. So, carefully consider how much an apparatus can hang out in front of the rig based on your response area.