By Bill Adams
When I stopped for morning coffee at the firehouse it was like entering a shooting gallery. The Raisin Squad must’ve run out of targets because I became one. When on the hunt, white hairs will bring things up from decades past. Sometimes their comments are interesting but I’d never give them credit. It really doesn’t matter because most only remember stuff from their good-ole-days. Half of us can’t recall what we had for supper three nights ago. But we’re good at busting chops.
Aerial Ladders
I don’t know too much about aerial ladders, which I call ladder trucks. I never sold one but was on a purchasing committee 35 years ago that bought one. In my 50 years as a volunteer, I got to ride a couple times on a city service ladder truck and then on a 75-foot midship aerial. Both were real ladder trucks – they didn’t have pumps or roofs. After moving, I got to work off of midship mounted 85-foot quints in two departments and lastly a 110-foot rear-mounted quint.
I don’t particularly care for quints – but when in Rome you’ve got to do what the Romans do – or what they tell you to do. Because I’ve been around fire trucks in the fire equipment business and in the fire department for years, I thought the squad would cut me some slack when talking about aerial ladders. I was wrong.
75-footers
I made the mistake of paraphrasing a statement made years earlier by someone whose name I can’t remember. It was because manufacturers were successfully selling 100-foot rear-mount aerial ladders on chassis with single-rear axles, the 75-foot aerial would soon be relegated to the dust bin of fire truck history.
One raisin researched aerial ladders online and brought in his laptop the next morning just to bust my chops. He showed us 75-foot aerial ladders being advertised or delivered by multiple manufacturers. I was wrong again.
85-footers
Another geezer, who I mistakenly thought was on my side, chimed in: “Who cares about 75-footers? We never had one. We had an 85-footer that worked great for damn near 25 years. There wasn’t any reason to get rid of it. You were on the committee that replaced it so you’re partly to blame.” The old rig was a 1965 85-foot midmount quint. Even though it was a quint, it served us well. And it didn’t have a roof.
It would’ve been useless explaining to this white hair why we replaced it with the longer stick. We went to a rear mount because we wanted to keep the same “reach” as the existing aerial, the same ground ladder complement, and the same pump capabilities within a similar wheelbase and overall length and with an enclosed canopy cab. Despite the 85-footer working well in the past, for valid reasoning we ended up with the 110-footer.
Years later the new regime replaced the 110-foot with a 107-foot rear-mount quint. The geezer: “You salesmen tried to confuse us with aerial lengths.” He might’ve had a point. I said I am retired and wasn’t an active member when they bought it. He shot back: “It don’t matter. You still know the people who sell this stuff.”
The 75-footers are still around but I think the 85-footers are gone forever. I don’t know why. I asked an out-of-town semi-raisin still in the business. He didn’t know either but thought years ago FAMA (the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association) used to record aerial sales as being under or over 85-foot. He added when 85-foot aerials were being phased out by the manufacturers, the 85-foot rear-mount aerial tower was common because being about 3-feet shorter than the 100-foot towers they stored slightly better inside older firehouses. They too were discontinued.
I was going to tell that to the squad the next morning, however, one of them beat me to it saying, “I’ll prove you sales people are still trying to confuse us.” He brought in literature from three manufacturers he printed from his computer – obviously with his grandkids’ help. Under aerial ladders, one manufacturer listed 75, 100, 102, 105 and 107-foot lengths. Another listed 51, 68, 78, 88, 100, 101, 102, 104, 105 and 115-foot lengths. Yet another only listed 75, 100 and 105-foot lengths. Right now, its irrelevant if they’re aerials, towers, platforms or some kind of hybrids.
I recalled one major U.S. city once ran a couple 135-foot and 144-foot aerials – built by two foreign aerial manufacturers. And I mentioned another domestic manufacturer recently advertised a 137-foot aerial. Now foaming at the mouth, the unhinged white hair continued: “Another manufacturer offers a 79-foot aerial. What the hell’s the fireground differences between 75, 77, 78 and 79-foot long aerial ladders? Are the different sizes just sales and marketing ploys?” I’m not going to touch that one. Ask your favorite vendor if a longer aerial is really better. It should be illegal for old people to confuse each other with factual numbers.
Dealers
Later that week, kitchen coffee talk was about a local fire truck dealer being purchased by another dealer. Pros and cons were discussed. I said I didn’t think bigger is necessarily better in the fire truck world. And fire departments probably prefer dealing with a local dealer – the guy down the street they’ve known for years. One geezer said: “Times have changed – you ain’t been a dealer in 25 years.” If you don’t agree with the message – shoot the messenger. It happens every day.
One white hair remembered an article I wrote many moons ago and threw it in my face. I had made the prediction that regional fire apparatus manufacturers would become stronger in the marketplace. My prognosis back then, similar to today’s about dealers, was fire departments wanted to deal with locally based manufacturers. My white-haired nemesis gloated: “How’d that prediction work out for you? Fire truck manufacturers are going out of business and consolidating every day. Why shouldn’t their dealers consolidate too?” I was wrong back then and I might still be today.
I attempted to justify my prediction but the squad wasn’t buying it. I gave up and left; three strikes and you’re out. After brooding about the topic for a couple days, I’m thinking maybe they’re on to something. Small fire apparatus dealers do appear to be going by the wayside – just like small apparatus manufacturers. It seems like the big manufacturers want big dealers. Megadealers is a term I’ve heard. I’ll have to investigate and report back – if I can remember!
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.
