Compartment Corner Mike Ciampo
North Patchogue New York is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven located in Suffolk County on Long Island. It is mainly a residential community with private dwellings, apartment and condominium complexes, shopping plazas and strip malls, big box stores and a major medical center. It’s also located on the southern shore of the island not far off the Atlantic Ocean.
As the hamlet’s fields, farms and forest started to turn into residential developments, the area lacked fire protection. Like so many other departments, a group of civic-minded individuals met on July 11, 1930. Many of these residents had a constant fear of losing their homes due to forest fires. The only protection before this meeting was neighbors grabbing brooms, shovels and rakes to attempt to put the fires out. A few weeks after the meeting on Aug. 8, 1930, the North Patchogue Fire Department was organized.
Like so many departments in their infancy stages, they had to find a place to meet, purchase and store apparatus and equipment, which almost took two years to accomplish. They were able to purchase a small office type 20×20 building for $150.00 and moved it from its original location to another property.
They leased this land from a trustee of the fire department and eventually stored their apparatus in the nearby garage on the property. The first department apparatus was purchased from the Babylon Fire Department Argyle Hose Company. It was a 1922 Brockway Chemical and Hose apparatus with a 350-gallon pump, two chemical tanks with hose reels. Shortly after this acquisition they purchased a Brockway chain driven and solid tire apparatus from the Patchogue Fire Department Van Guard Hose Company. An interesting fact about this rig, milk cans were filled with water and stored on the apparatus for firefighting operations. As the town began to grow over the next 60 years, two additional firehouses were built and its current firehouse sits across the street from the original one.
Truck 12 is located at Station 1, the department’s fire headquarters, which houses Engine 4, Rescue 5, Brush 10, Fire Police 8, two ambulances and a Rescue Boat. The rig was originally a 1990 open-cab CF Mack Baker Aerialscope, which was rehabbed by Pierce in 2010. The Aerialscope was completely refurbished and sits atop a 2010 Pierce Velocity chassis and body. The body is painted in a black over red paint scheme and the boom of the tower ladder is also painted black, giving it a dynamic look. It has standard hinged compartment doors on the sides of the rig and a roll-up compartment door on the rear which stores the portable ladders and longer sized hooks.
The rear of the apparatus also has the DOT complaint safety chevron reflective striping adhered to it. There is one solid black reflective stripe that runs along the cab and entire body of the apparatus. The rig is powered by a Detroit Diesel Series 60, 515 horsepower engine with an Allison Automatic transmission.
It also features Pierce’s TAK-4 independent suspension system and an Onan 10KW hydraulic generator. A few unique features of this rehabbed rig is that the rear jacks are housed behind a body panel, when many Aerialscopes have them exposed. Also on the front jacks, there are small grip handles installed for support. The handles make it easier for firefighters to hold onto the rig so they don’t lose their balance while picking up or putting down the jack pads, especially when encountering wet or icy surfaces.
Truck 12’s saw compartment is located near the rear of the apparatus in the largest side compartment. Storing the saws and other equipment here offers firefighters quick access to the rig’s bucket for members to attain a quicker position to the roof. The bottom pull-out tray in the compartment has permanently secured brackets for the three Husqvarna K-12 Fire/Rescue rotary saws. Two of the saws are equipped with blades for roof cutting, while the other saw is used for forcible entry operations.
Stored on the compartment’s middle shelf is their Cutter’s Edge chain saw also for roof ventilation operations. There is also storage for fuel supply, hand tools for the saw and bar oil. In the top area of this transverse compartment is a Little Giant ladder and metal Stokes Basket. On the opposite side of this transverse compartment, the auto extrication equipment is stored on the bottom pull-out tray. Mounted to the back wall above this equipment are two reciprocal saws: one battery operated Milwaukee and one DeWalt corded saw. Above this shelf there is storage bins for 16 air bottles. The upper portion of the compartment allows storage of step-chocks and access to the Stokes Basket. On either side of this compartment, there are electric control buttons on extended cords to allow the rig’s electric cord reels to be rewound from multiple locations.
Another note about the Truck Company package in North Patchogue, they also run a Pierce Velocity single-axle Ascendant 107-foot aerial ladder as Ladder 2. The quint was bought with the concept that when limited staffing was available between the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., the apparatus would be the first out rig that could provide engine, truck and rescue capabilities.
Another reason this apparatus is so special to the department and community is because it is dedicated to the memory of Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, a U.S. Navy Seal, who was from the community and died in Afghanistan. Lt. Murphy was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery and selfless acts. After speaking with his family, they agreed that the rig could be dedicated in his memory. The apparatus boast a beautiful tribute painting on the officer’s side on the rear body. The mural has the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, the Medal of Honor, an American flag as the backdrop and Lt. Murphy with “Murph the Protector” signage. For more on this apparatus, see Bob Vaccaro’s article A Tribute to a Hero.
The North Patchogue Fire Department is surely covering all the bases in truck work by operating these two beautiful pieces of ladder company apparatus.
Michael N. Ciampo is a 38-year veteran of the fire service and a Lieutenant in the Fire Department of New York. Previously he served with the District of Columbia Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He was the lead instructor for FDIC International Truck Essentials HOT program. He wrote the Ladders and Ventilation chapters for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter 1 & 2 and the Bread and Butter Portable Ladders DVD. He writes the back page column On Fire in Fire Engineering and is featured in Training Minutes truck company videos on FireEngineering.com. Recently he wrote the textbook Tower Ladders, Tactics, Tips & Tales.
