The Amboy (IL) Fire Protection District is a rural fire department providing fire, rescue and emergency medical services (EMS) to a year-round population of 8,000, with 2,333 in the city of Amboy and an estimated 5,667 in the rural area of the district. The 298-square-mile district has a seasonal population peak of more than 50,000 during the summer months from multiple area campgrounds.
Amboy Fire is staffed by more than 40 paid on-call volunteer firefighters who run out of a single station that houses two engines, one tanker, one rescue, two ambulances, two all terrain vehicles (ATVs), and two EMS non-transport vehicles. The department needed to replace a 2003 Spartan rescue-pumper and chose Toyne Fire Apparatus to build the pumper-tanker-rescue.
Jeff Bryant, Amboy Fire’s chief, says the aim of the new rig was to “get a piece of apparatus that allows us to do a lot of firefighting, carry as much water as possible, and provide rescue assistance when needed. We wanted to keeps the SCBAs (self-contained breathing apparatus) packs out of the cab, and to carry only battery-operated tools on the rig.”
Orin Snodgrass, apparatus sales manager for Dinges Fire Company, who sold the pumper-tanker-rescue to Amboy, says the rig is built on a Spartan Metro Star chassis and cab with a 10-inch raised roof and seating for four firefighters, with a bolted stainless steel body powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission. Wheelbase on the vehicle is 226 inches, overall length is 36 feet, 3 inches, and overall height is 10 feet, 9 inches.
Snodgrass notes that the rig has a Waterous CSU 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) pump, an UPF Poly® 1,500-gallon water tank, a 25-gallon foam cell, and a FoamPro 1600 Class A foam system. “The cab is set up for four firefighters in H.O. Bostrom seats, with no SCBAs in the cab,” he says. “We installed an EMS cabinet behind the driver’s seat that’s accessible from both inside and outside, and behind the officer’s seat, there is a RIT (rapid intervention team) cabinet that’s also accessible from inside and outside. Our SCBAs are carried in the L1 and L2 compartments, and spare bottles are in wheel well compartments.”
Bryant points out that the new pumper-tanker-rescue has a 28-inch extended front bumper that holds an AMKUS battery-powered hydraulic spreader and cutter. “We keep an AMKUS ram and other extrication tools and battery-powered saws in the R1 compartment, with the rear compartment holding our 12-inch saws,” he says. “At the pump panel, we have two 200-foot 1-3/4-inch hose speed lays, one 200-foot 2-1/2-inch speed lay, and 200 feet of dead lay 1-3/4-inch hose in the dunnage area above the pump panel. The rig’s deck gun is a Task Force Tips Crossfire monitor with an 18-inch Extend-A-Gun.”
Snodgrass says that the back end of the pumper-tanker-rescue has a 6-inch intake and two 2-1/2-inch discharges, with ground ladders in a covered through the tank chute on the right side, and a Stokes basket and backboard in a chute on the left. “The hose bed is set up to hold 300 feet of 2-1/2-inch hose, 1,000 feet of 5-inch LDH (large diameter hose), and 300 feet of 2-1/2-inch hose with a wye and two 100-foot sections of 1-3/4-inch hose off of it, all covered by an aluminum hose bed cover,” he says.
Lighting on the vehicle includes Whelen LED warning lights, a Whelen Freedom IV LED light bar, a HiViz Fire Tech 46-inch LED brow light, a Roto-Ray LED light, Whelen M9 LED scene lights on the sides and rear, two Whelen LED rear beacons, and a Command Light KL4 LED light tower.
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.
