Compartment Corner Mike Ciampo
The Town of Mohawk is located in Montgomery County, sitting just west of the City of Amsterdam in New York. Nestled in the Mohawk Valley region with the Catskill Mountains to the south and the Adirondack Mountains to the north, it’s a beautiful destination for vacations, outdoor recreation, and sightseeing. The Erie Canal once ran through the area, but with the arrival of the railroad, shipping cargo from the Great Lakes to the Hudson River ceased.
The town is protected by the Mohawk Fire District, which also provides service to the Village of Fonda, the county seat. The district encompasses approximately 35 square miles and is a volunteer force. In 2022, the department moved into its new 12,900-square-foot station. It has seven bays with a 5,500-square-foot apparatus floor, turnout gear and decontamination room, office space, radio room, training area, a day room, commercial kitchen, and community space. The design won a 2023 Project of the Year award from the American Public Works Association (APWA) New York Chapter.
The fire district operates many types of apparatus and specialty rigs. Some of these include: a 3,000-gallon/1,500-gpm Fort Garry/Freightliner tanker; a 1,500 gpm/1,800-gallon Central States/International engine; a 1,800-gallon/1,500-gpm Rosenbauer engine; an International Rescue rig; a Ford F550 Lakes Region brush unit with a 300-gallon tank and high-pressure CET pump; a John Deere Gator with a 75-gallon tank and forestry pump; a Chevy 2500HD utility pick-up truck; and a Ford Expedition command vehicle.
Recently, the department acquired a small, enclosed utility trailer and the members converted it into a flood response unit. It carries various sized dewatering pumps, hard suction hoses, and regular fire hoses, accessories and appliances. The district also takes great pride in maintaining a showpiece 1914 Ford Model T chief’s car.
The newest addition to their fleet is Engine 24, a 2023 Sutphen Monarch built on a heavy-duty custom chassis with a 73-inch cab that has a 15-inch raised roof. It has seating for six firefighters on Bostrom seats with helmet storage beneath them. The upper portion of the cab is painted gray, with the lower portion painted black. Running along the bottom portion of the cab are two red and one black reflective stripe.
Mounted on the rear exterior wall of the cab, sitting on each side are two Whelen PFH2 Tele-Lights. Also, mounted on each side of the cab’s upper portion are Whelen color-coded tank water LED light gauges.
For apparatus warning devices, mounted on the roof of the cab sits a Whelen 72-inch Freedom light bar and for scene visibility is a Fire Tech 3PC Brown Light. Mounted in the 24-inch polished stainless-steel bumper are two recessed air horns and fog lights with a Federal Q2B siren mounted above them on the grill. There is also a 5-inch front suction and 2 ½-inch discharge on the front bumper with a hose trough. The rig also features a Brigade camera system for overall safety during backing operations.
The cab is mounted on 10-inch double Domex frame rails that also support a Cummins L9 450-hp engine, Allison Gen5 EVS3000 transmission, and a Hale Qmax 2,000-gpm single-stage pump with a Trident primer. These rails also support the 3/16-foot extruded aluminum body that has Amdor roll-up compartment doors. The two red and one black reflective striping starts low on the compartment just behind the top-mounted pump panel and transitions to the upper section of the apparatus running to the back compartment. The pump panel also features Hale MIV air bleeders and Pump Boss controls. The rig also has a 1,000-gallon UPF Poly Tank III with a 30-gallon foam tank supplying a Hale Smartfoam 2.1A system. Mounted above the pump panel is a TFT Crossfire Deck Gun with a TFT-Extend-A-Gun feature, a Harrison 8-kW generator and a Hannay Electrical Reel. Sitting just to the rear of the pump panel and in front of the hose bed is a Command Light Tower.
The body of the apparatus boasts an air cascade system with the controls sitting in the left-rear compartment and supply bottles mounted on each side of the upper portion of the rig. The upper hose bed has storage for 1,500 feet of 5-inch hose, 300 feet of 2-inch hose and 400 feet of 2½-inch hose. Two speedlay hose troughs sit under the top-mounted pump, which hold 200 feet of 1¾-inch hose.
Portable ladder storage comes off the rear of the rig out of the ladder chute. The ladder inventory is an Alco-Lite 24-foot two-section extension ladder, a 14-foot roof ladder, and a 10-foot folding ladder sits inside through the tank storage. Also stored in the compartment are two 6×10 hard-suction hoses for drafting operations. Just below the ladder chute is a tool compartment holding two Stihl chain saws and power blower, with fuel and bar oil containers. The rear of the rig boasts DOT safety chevron striping and Whelen Quad Cluster and warning lights. To assist the driver, Britax marker lights are mounted to the lower guiderails on the tail end of the apparatus.
The Mohawk Fire District firefighters, residents, and visitors are surely in good hands when this Sutphen apparatus responds to fires and emergencies when called upon.
Thanks to Scott Leavery of Vander Molen Fire Apparatus Sales & Service for his assistance.
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 is an instructor for FDIC International 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.
