Two severe fires prior to the turn of the 20th century prompted the citizens of Hellertown, Pennsylvania, to realize the need for an organized firefighting unit.
Although informal meetings had been held prior to 1896, little materialized until a fire destroyed Christ Lutheran Church on April 17, 1896. This fire, along with another that consumed two barns and stables on April 17, 1897, provided the impetus to form what is now known as Dewey Fire Company.
The Dewey Fire Company history through the years shows that the fire company was basically a purchaser of a who’s who of fire apparatus.
The fire company purchased from Howe in 1920 and later purchased a 1954 Spangler Dual; a 1966 Maxim; 1956, 1959, and 1977 American LaFrance units; a 1989 Hahn; a 1998 Marion; a 2006 KME; and finally a 2021 HME.
The response area, according to Chief Matthew Simkovic, consists of 2.1 square miles with a population of 6,000 residents. It is mainly a bedroom community with mom-and-pop types of businesses. “Target hazards would be an old high school, senior apartment complexes, and a few four-story assisted living complexes,” says Simkovic. “The apartment and assisted living complexes are mainly wood frame. We also have a great deal of larger residences with setbacks.”
The department started looking at several options in 2017, according to Randy Yardumian, the truck committee chairman. “We looked at 75-foot quints and 100-foot ladders and decided that we wanted a ladder with longer reach as well as a single rear axle,” he says. “A 75-foot quint wouldn’t do it for us. One of our neighboring communities had a fire in a four-story structure and had to make some rescues using ground ladders. So, no matter what our department purchased, we also wanted the apparatus to carry a great deal of ground ladders as well.” Ultimately, weight, aerial height, and braking considerations meant the fire company specified a tandem axle.
HME Quint
- Chassis: HME AF1
- Cab: HME MFDxlr-12 notch roof with one-piece windshield
- Engine: Cummins X15, 600-horsepower
- Transmission: Allison 4000EVS automatic transmission
- Pump: Waterous CSU 2,000-gpm
- Tank Capacity: 500 gallons
- Aerial Height: 111 feet
1 Dewey Fire Company’s HME Ahrens Fox 1 cab and chassis with 111-foot rear-mount ladder. (Photos courtesy of Dewey Fire Company unless otherwise noted.)
Dewey Fire Company Fire Apparatus
- Truck 12: 2021 HME 111-foot quint
- Rescue 13: 2013 Pierce PUC rescue-pumper
- Utility 13: 2014 Ford F550 with Knapheide body
2 The rear of the rig showing the hosebed that carries 800 feet of 5-inch LDH and 400 feet of 3-inch supply line.
3 Storage under the aerial for 230 feet of ground ladders.
4 The front bumper carries a 1¾-inch trash line.
Simkovic says, “Since we had to deal with our borough council for funding, we had to explain the differences and costs of the two types of quints. Since it was a municipality, we still had to go out to bid for the purchase.” The fire company sent out an RFP in 2019. “We sent out an open bid, which means any manufacturer could bid,” adds Simkovic. “Eventually, we received bids from six different manufacturers.”
According to Yardumian, the fire company eventually chose HME, which was one of three manufacturers that met the fire company’s specs for the design. “Our committee spoke to several departments in the Northeast that had HME apparatus, and all responses were favorable,” he says.
Dewey chose a 111-foot rear-mount quint that carries 230 feet of ground ladders, a 2,000-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump, and a 500-gallon tank. Its extended front bumper carries a 100-foot 1¾-inch trash line, and the rear hosebed carries 800 feet of 5-inch large-diameter hose and 400 feet of 3-inch hose.
The rig can carry two 200-foot cord reels, a small refrigerator for rehab use, battery-powered Milwaukee Sawzalls, two battery-powered fans, a hydra ram, two sets of irons, four battery-powered hand lights, two thermal imaging cameras, two gas meters, RIT equipment, two high-rise bags with related fittings, several saws with forcible entry tools, and a 6-kW hydraulic generator. It plans to install battery-powered extrication tools in the future.
5 The pump panel and compartments. (Photo 5 courtesy of HME.)
6 The saw compartment with battery-powered fans and hand tools.
“HME and our local dealer Emergency Equipment Sales were great to deal with through the whole process,” states Simkovic. “Our committee did a midpoint and final inspection out at the factory. We had to make some minor changes, which were all corrected out at the factory. Overall, the build went well.”
The Dewey Fire Company had a special need for a quint in its response district and wanted a unit that could carry a great deal of ground ladders and an aerial that had at least a 100-foot reach for target hazards in its area.
When designing an apparatus, consider the target hazards in your community and think out of the box for an apparatus design that will meet the needs of your community and possibly the needs of other communities when responding mutual aid outside of your area as well.
Also take into consideration that a delivery date might be well into the future, so you may want to start planning for the future now and take into consideration the cost of a future apparatus purchase. In any case, proper planning well in advance for a high-cost apparatus purchase never hurts.
BOB VACCARO has more than 40 years of fire service experience. He is a former chief of the Deer Park (NY) Fire Department. Vaccaro has also worked for the Insurance Services Office, the New York Fire Patrol, and several major commercial insurance companies as a senior loss-control consultant. He is a life member of the IAFC.
