The Somerdale (NJ) Fire Department found it needed to replace a 14-year-old rescue-pumper with a rig that was a multi-use piece of apparatus because of the growing community that the department serves. Its previous rescue-pumper was a Ferrara Fire Apparatus vehicle, so the department felt very comfortable going back to Ferrara to have it build its new multi-functional rescue-pumper.
Brian Barkoff, Somerdale’s chief, says Somerdale is a 1.5-square mile town that’s a suburb of Philadelphia with a population of 6,000. “We’re primarily a bedroom community with a commercial area that has a shopping mall, theaters and retail businesses, along with a small industrial park,” Barkoff says. “We have 40 volunteer firefighters responding out of one station with a Ferrara engine and quint, our new rescue-pumper, and an air/light truck. We’re on automatic mutual aid for every structure fire in a six-square mile area with a 21,500 population.”
Steve Shatzel, project manager for Firefighter One Apparatus, which sold the vehicle to Somerdale, says the rescue-pumper is built on a Cinder chassis and cab with seating for six firefighters, five of them in SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) seats. He notes that the rig is powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission, and has a Hale Qmax 2,000-gallon per minute (gpm) pump, and a 500-gallon polypropylene water tank. Wheelbase on the rescue-pumper is 205 inches, overall length is 33 feet 11-3/4-inches, and overall height is 9 feet 5-1/4-inches.
Barkoff notes that the department wanted to increase the usability of its new rescue-pumper, so it added more preconnected hosed Holmatro hydraulic rescue tools to the rig. “In the R1 compartment, we have three slide-out trays, one with four Holmatro rams and a mini-cutter, a second one with two hydraulic cutters and one spreader, and on the third slide-out tray, a gasoline-drive hydraulic pump,” he says. “Two hydraulic hose reels are located in the coffin compartment above the R1 compartment and feed their hydraulic hoses down into the top of the compartment.” Barkoff adds that in the dunnage area on the driver’s side, Ferrara placed a booster reel with 200 feet of one-inch red line.
Barkoff points out that the new Ferrara rescue-pumper has two 1-3/4-inch hose loads of 100- and 150-feet in the front bumper, two 200-foot 1-3/4-inch cross lays in Minuteman loads above the pump panel, a 2-1/2-inch hose line off the back of the rig that’s tipped with a Task Force Tips Blitzfire nozzle, and an Akron Brass Company 3433 high riser Apollo deck gun with hand wheel control and stacked tips. “We also have a 25-foot 5-inch LDH preconnected to the steamer connection on both sides that sit in a well in the running boards. In addition, we have MIV (manifold isolation valves) internally on each intake.
He adds that the rig’s low hose bed has, left to right, 200 feet of 2-1/2-inch hose dead lay, 1,200 feet of 5-inch LDH (large diameter hose), and a 100-foot 1-3/4-inch Cleveland load as a setback line.
Jason Louque, Ferrara’s director of sales, points out that the Somerdale’s rescue-pumper has an extruded aluminum body, a Harrison 15-kW generator, all Whelen 600 and 900 series LED warning lighting, a Whelen and 81-inch Freedom IV LED light bar, two Whelen Pioneer LED brow lights, and Whelen Pioneer LED scene lights surface mounted with single lights on the sides and doubles on the rear.
Barkoff says the new rig carries an oil dry hopper and more spill control equipment, as well as a larger floor jack than the previous truck. In the driver’s side wheel well, the department carries the drivers SCBA, a dry chemical extinguisher, a CO2 extinguisher, and chimney flares, he says. The officer’s side wheel well holds six SCBA bottles.
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.
