Ward No. 4 (LA) Fire Protection District was in need of a new engine to cover the 150 square miles of its very rural fire district, so the chief put together a committee of the district’s volunteer firefighters to determine what they wanted and needed in a new pumper. The chief says it took two years to spec out exactly what the firefighters wanted in a new rig, which would be the first new vehicle the district had ever purchased.
Josh Hallbrook, Ward No. 4’s chief, says the fire district is approximately 80% wooded area with the rest of the coverage area having some wet hydrants but with low water pressure, and 36 dry hydrants at lakes and ponds. “We have 33 volunteer firefighters that respond out of seven stations with an assortment of 17 apparatus, which include pumpers, several tankers (tenders), brush trucks, and a 40-foot fire/rescue boat,” Hallbrook says. “We have a big district, and it takes about 30 minutes to get from one end of it to the other.”
Hallbrook notes that the truck committee determined that it wanted a top-mount pump because of the scene safety it provided for the pump operator. “We have a lot of two-lane roads with plenty of curves and heels, so if a pump operator is standing in the road at the side of a pumper, it could be trouble,” Hallbrook observes.
Rob Andrus, owner of Delta Fire & Safety, who sold the pumper to Ward No. 4, says the fire district wanted to go with a commercial chassis pumper in order to save money, but wanted the rig to be versatile enough to handle not only structure fires and vehicle fires, but also rescue calls and EMS (emergency medical services) calls. “The district had Spartan Emergency Response build them a top-mount pumper on a Freightliner M2 106 SBA chassis and two-door cab with a 350-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission,” he says.
The Spartan ER rig carries a Waterous CSU 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) pump, an UPF® Poly® 1,000-gallon water tank, a 20-gallon foam cell, a Hale FoamLogix 2.1A single agent foam system, and a Spartan One Touch CAFS (compressed air foam system) with a 150-cubic feet per minute (cfm) compressor, Andrus points out. “The pumper also has a Smart Power 6-kilowatt generator that allows the rig to serve as an Incident Commander’s post with power for laptops and radios, and also as a power source for a station that might be out of power during a weather emergency,” he says.
The Spartan ER pumper has full depth and full height rescue-style compartments to maximize storage space, air cylinder storage in the L2 compartment above the wheel well, two speed lays of 1-3/4-inch hose in removable trays, a 2-1/2-inch preconnect off the rear of the vehicle, a one-inch forestry line preconnect in the extended front bumper along with a Warn winch, a 1,000-gpm deck gun, and a hose bed set up to carry 1,000 feet of 5-inch large diameter hose (LDH), Andrus notes. Wheelbase on the pumper is 230 inches, overall length is 32 feet, 8 inches, and overall height is 9 feet, 11-1/2-inches.
Hallbrook says that the district wanted the pumper to have upgraded hydraulic rescue tools, so it had a demonstration night to cut up vehicles that was attended by Hurst Jaws of Life®, Holmatro, and AMKUS® Rescue Systems representatives. “We decided to go with the AMKUS battery-powered tools,” he says. “We got a spreader, cutter and ram and put them in a Lazy-Susan style fitting on a slide-out tray in a curb side compartment on the new pumper,” he says. “We are very pleased with our Spartan ER pumper. It’s the nicest one in our parish, and hands down, it’s a beauty. I wish I had 17 more just like it.”
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.
