Burbank-Paradise (CA) Fire Protection District was established as a community volunteer fire department in 1942 in the Modesto area, and eventually became part of the city of Modesto, but kept its special fire district status. Burbank-Paradise now has 23 paid and reserve firefighters to staff four pieces of apparatus out of a single station, covering 3-1/2 square miles and running 2,000 calls annually.
Chris Bernardi, Burbank-Paradise’s assistant chief, says that the department got a grant through the state of California to replace an aging and too-large rescue-pumper. “We needed to get rid of our 2004 Seagrave rescue-pumper that was 36 feet long with a 66-inch wide pump house and a cab that could hold 10 firefighters,” Bernardi says.
“Our district has a lot of tiny, 90-degree turns, and that older rescue-pumper was just too big for us,” he notes. “So we replaced it and a 2001 Pierce Quantum pumper that we had purchased used with a new Seagrave rescue-pumper, which we added to our fleet and a 2020 HME Ahrens-Fox Model 34 Type 3 wildland engine, a 2008 Seagrave Marauder pumper, and a Type 6 wildland engine on a Ford F-550 chassis with a skid-mounted pump and water tank.”
James Demattei, president and co-owner of Derotic Emergency Equipment, who sold the Seagrave rescue-pumper to Burbank-Paradise, says the new rig is built on a Marauder chassis and 141-inch cab with seating for six firefighters, five of them in SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) seats, powered by a Cummins 500-horsepower (hp) X12 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission.
The rescue-pumper has a 20,000-pound front axle and suspension, a 24,000-pound rear axle and suspension, a 175-inch wheelbase, an overall length of 28 feet 6-3/4-inches, and an overall height of 9 feet 8-1/4-inches. The rig has a 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) Waterous CSU pump, a 500-gallon water tank, a 20-gallon foam tank, and a FoamPro 2002 foam proportioning system.
Bernardi points out that the driver’s side L3 compartment is set up to carry wildland fire equipment. “On top of our new rescue-pumper, we put in a coffin compartment that holds our Strike Team gear,” he says. “That holds our wildland packs, cots, MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), and firefighters’ personal 14-day wildland deployment bags for when they are deployed out of the area on a wildland fire.”
Bernardi says officer’s side of the rescue-pumper holds a full set of hosed Holmatro CORE Technology hydraulic rescue tools. Above the pump panel are two, 200-foot 1-3/4-inch cross lays, a Hannay booster reel with 200 feet of one-inch hose, and a Task Force Tips Crossfire monitor with a TFT 18-inch Extend-A-Gun. The extended front bumper holds 150 feet of preconnected 1-3/4-inch hose in a hose well. He notes that the hose bed carries two 300-foot lengths of 1-3/4-inch preconnected hose, 250-feet of 2-1/2-inch preconnected hose, 1,000 feet of 5-inch LDH (large diameter hose), and 600-feet of 2-1/2-inch hose.
Ladder storage is on a Zico hydraulic ladder rack and holds a Duo-Safety 24-foot two-section extension ladder, and a 14-foot roof ladder, a 10-foot folding ladder, and two pike poles. A covered slide-in backboard storage area is underneath the ladder rack.
The rescue-pumper’s lighting includes a LED Roto-Ray light on the front of the rig, along with a FRC Evolution II LED brow light, a Whelen 72-inch light bar, and two GOLIGHT LED cab spotlights, with Whelen LED warning lighting, FRC Evolution II LED telescoping lights behind the cab, Whelen LED M6 scene lights on the body, and a Whelen LED traffic advisor at the rear.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Ariz.-based journalist, the author of three novels and five non-fiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment editorial advisory board. He served 22 years with Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including the position of chief.
