Johnsonville (NY) Fire Department needed to replace a 1991 Marion pumper-tanker that had put in its time for the department but was showing its age. After scoping out several replacement possibilities, the department chose HME Ahrens-Fox to build it a new, bigger pumper-tanker.
Ned Morrissey, Johnsonville’s chief, says the department covers a population of 13,500 in a 30-square-mile mostly rural fire district, with that coverage area expanding to 110 square miles when giving mutual aid to neighboring fire departments. Morrissey says the department has 25 active volunteer firefighters who staff the new pumper-tanker, a 2010 HME Ahrens-Fox engine, a 2000 Marion walk-in rescue, a Ford F-450 emergency medical services (EMS) response unit, and a rigid-hull inflatable boat (RIB) for water and swift water rescue.
“Our Marion pumper-tanker had a 1,250-gallon water tank and did a lot of work for us, but it had put in its time,” Morrissey observes. “With the new pumper-tanker from HME Ahrens-Fox having a 2,500-gallon water tank, that was a huge sell for us.”
Dave Rider, vice president of sales for HME Ahrens-Fox, says the Johnsonville pumper-tanker is built on an AF1 chassis and a MFDxl cab with a 12-inch raised roof that seats six firefighters, five of them in H.O. Bostrom self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) seats. The rig is powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission.
Rider adds that the pumper-tanker has a Meritor MFS beam front axle, and a Hendrickson RT walking beam rear axle. Dimensions on the vehicle are a wheelbase of 221 inches, an overall length of 37 feet, 4 inches, and an overall height of 9 feet, 7 inches.
Erin Maxon, owner of Millertown Fire Apparatus, who sold the pumper-tanker to Johnsonville, says the rig has a 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) Hale DSD pump that saves a little space on the vehicle, a 2,500-gallon water tank, a Zico Quic-Lift rack for a 3,000-gallon portable water tank on the right side of the truck, and a through-the-tank ladder tunnel holding a 24-foot two-section extension ladder, a 14-foot roof ladder, a 10-foot folding attic ladder, and pike poles.
“This vehicle has a couple of unusual features for a pumper-tanker,” Maxon notes. “The department used to run a top-mount, so the new rig has a camera on the officer’s side pump panel so that the pump operator can have a view of what’s happening on the other side of the vehicle. The L1 compartment has a frame to hold a laptop to take the video feed from the camera. The same compartment also holds the driver’s SCBA.”
As for attack and supply lines, Morrissey points out that the pumper-tanker has three cross lays above the pump panel, two 200-foot 1-3/4-inch hose lines and one 200-foot 2-1/2-inch hose line, all tipped with smoothbore nozzles; a 150-foot 1-3/4-inch hose line tipped with a fog nozzle in the extended front bumper; and in the hose bed, 300 feet of 2-1/2-inch hose preconnected and tipped with a smoothbore nozzle that can be quickly changed out for a Task Force Tips Blitzfire® nozzle, and 800 feet of 4-inch large diameter hose (LDH).
“The pumper-tanker also has an Elkhart Brass deck gun with a Task Force Tips 18-inch Extend-A-Gun and quad stacked tips, and a single Newton 10-inch dump valve with an extension that swivels 180 degrees,” he says.
Morrissey adds, “We put the pumper-tanker in service late in the spring and it’s been to structure fires, brush fires and lots of mutual aid calls. Most of our neighboring departments have it as first due because of the lack of water in our rural area with very few fixed water systems and only ponds, streams and lakes. Both they and our firefighters love the 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.
