Sallisaw (OK) Fire Department wanted to replace a 32-year-old engine, but hadn’t put out specs of what it needed, and didn’t even have the approval of the city council to do so. But when a salesman at Banner Fire Equipment told Sallisaw chief Anthony Armstrong about a demo pumper it had received from E-ONE, things shifted into high gear.
“Our assistant chief checked out the pumper and found it had all the major elements that we wanted in a new pumper — a top-mount pump panel, a 1,000-gallon water tank, and foam capability,” Armstrong says. “I went to the dealership and did a handshake deal with them, asking them to put a hold on the pumper for us. They agreed.”
Armstrong continues, “Then I talked with our city manager about how the truck was perfect for us, and if we didn’t grab it, there would be a two-year wait while a new rig was built for us. The city manager got the city council together in a special meeting and approved the purchase, which is how we ended up with the pumper.”
Shane Floyd, Oklahoma branch general manager for Banner Fire Equipment, says the new E-ONE pumper is built on a Typhoon chassis and cab, with a 20-inch raised roof and seating for six firefighters, five of them in SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) seats, a stainless steel body, and is powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission. The pumper has a Hale QMax 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) pump, a 1,000-gallon polypropylene water tank, a 30-gallon foam cell, and a FoamPro 1600 Class A foam system.
Armstrong says the new rig has 100 feet of 1-3/4-inch attack line in a front bumper compartment, as well as a 5-inch intake and a Federal Q2B siren on the bumper. He adds that the engine also has two, 200-foot 1-3/4-inch hose crosslays and one, 300-foot, 3-inch hose dead lay with a nozzle behind the pump panel, and 100 feet of 1-3/4-inch hose preconnected at the rear. “We have the ability to attack a fire from all sides of this new pumper,” he observes.
The E-ONE engine also has a 2-1/2-inch direct tank fill and a 2-1/2-inch discharge at the rear, and a hose bed that holds 1,000 feet of 5-inch LDH (large diameter hose), Armstrong says, as well as an Akron Brass Hi-Riser monitor with a 1,250-gpm nozzle, and a hose reel with 100 feet of one-inch booster line in the rear B1 compartment.
Floyd points out that the pumper has custom slide-out trays in the compartments, Whelen LED emergency lighting, a Whelen Freedom IV LED light bar, Hi Viz Fire Tech LED scene lights, and a Whelen Traffic Advisor at the rear.
Sallisaw Fire Department covers approximately 25 square miles of the city of Sallisaw (population 10,000) from one station with a paid chief and assistant chief, and 18 paid-on call firefighters. The department has two front-line E-ONE engines, an E-ONE 95-foot aerial platform, a 3,000-gallon pumper-tanker, three brush trucks, an EMS medical response vehicle, two chief’s vehicles, and a 1950s parade truck.
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.
