Delmar Fire Department is an all volunteer fire agency that has 52 volunteer firefighters responding on two aerial ladder quints, one engine, one rescue squad, a brush truck and two Gator utility terrain vehicles (UTV) out of two stations. The department decided it needed to replace a 23-year old aerial ladder quint and turned to a manufacturer it had dealt with previously, Marion Body Works Inc., for a new quint.
“Because of station limitations where the new quint would be housed, it had to be under a certain length and height in order to fit,” says Dan Ryan, Delmar’s chief. “The new truck had to be under 37 feet long and under 11 feet, 6 inches tall. We also wanted a pinnable master stream monitor at the tip of the ladder to make rescues easier, a cab set up to carry six firefighters, and a diagrammatic pump panel.”
John Harris, sales manager for Har-Rob Fire Apparatus, says Delmar was replacing a 2000 HME Hammer AI aerial ladder quint, and wanted the new rig to match a Crimson Fire aerial ladder quint they had in service at their other station. “They went with a Spartan Gladiator chassis and extended medium four door (EMFD) cab with a Marion body and a Ladder Tower 75-foot aerial ladder,” Harris says. “The cab is set up to carry six firefighters, five of them in self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), H.O. Bostrom seats with DuraWare Plus removable seat covers.”
Harris notes that Delmar’s quint is powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission, and has a Hale QMax XS 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) pump, and a UPF Poly® 500-gallon water tank. “The quint has the diagrammatic pump panel that Delmar wanted, and also a pinnable pre-piped waterway on the three-section aerial ladder,” he adds. “Dimensions on the quint are a wheelbase of 215 inches, an overall length of 36 feet 6 inches, and overall height of 11 feet 4 inches.”
Lori Tomsovic, technical sales and contract administrator for Marion, says the Delmar quint has one 1-3/4-inch hose and one 2-1/2-inch hose crosslays above the side mount pump panel, two 1-3/4-inch full width hoselays in the rig’s extended front bumper, and an Akron 3480 electronic monitor at the tip of the ladder.
The ground ladder complement carried in a rear compartment includes a three-section 35-foot extension ladder, a two-section 24-foot extension ladder, a 16-foot roof ladder, and a 10-foot folding attic ladder, Tomsovic says. “Delmar also carries a 14-foot roof ladder on the aerial, and a 17-foot Little Giant overhaul model ladder in a compartment on top of the truck,” she adds. “Also, one of the high side compartment doors opens up to the hosebed, allowing firefighters to stand on the treadplate door to load hose.”
Ross Fischer, Marion’s sales manager, points out that the Delmar quint has a Harrison 6-kW generator, a Voyager three position camera system (left, right, and rear), Whelen LED 600 series emergency lighting, a HiViz FireTech LED brow light, LED underbody lighting, LED rung illumination, and FRC SoBrite LED scene lighting on the aerial.
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.
