Malaga (NJ) Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 had outgrown its rescue truck. The department needed more storage room to house its shoring, stabilization equipment, ventilation fans, hydraulic rescue tools, and dive team equipment as well as the large number of hand tools, saws, air bags, rope rescue equipment, and other gear carried by the rig.
Anthony Baldosaro, Malaga’s chief, says the fire company’s technical rescue truck handles emergency responses not only in Malaga in Franklin Township, Somerset County, but also in the New Jersey counties of Gloucester, Cumberland, Atlantic, and Salem. “Our technical rescue is on assignment for fires as well as for motor vehicle accidents, marine and ice rescues, rope rescues, collapses, and heavy truck rollovers,” Baldosaro observes. “We have to carry so much equipment for so many different scenarios that we ran out of room on our 1995 Rescue 1 heavy rescue.”
Paul Sickler of Campbell Supply Company, who sold the SVI Trucks technical rescue truck to Malaga, says he previously had sold the fire company a Freightliner pumper and a 3,000-gallon Freightliner tanker. “The fire company told me basically what they were looking for with a new technical rescue truck and especially their need for lots of space for their struts and stabilization equipment, dive team equipment, rope rescue gear, and vehicle extrication tools,” Sickler says. “SVI Trucks had built a technical rescue truck for Bethlehem (PA) Township Volunteer Fire Company, so I took the Malaga truck committee over there to look at it. They were impressed with the Bethlehem truck and decided to order one just like it, with a few modifications to fit their needs.”
1 SVI Trucks built this heavy technical rescue truck for Malaga (NJ) Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and four-door cab with a 20-inch raised roof. (Photos courtesy of SVI Trucks.)
2 Malaga’s new heavy technical rescue has seating for six firefighters in its cab, with five of them in H.O. Bostrom 500 Series SCBA seats.
3 The SVI heavy technical rescue is powered by a 505-hp Cummins X15 diesel engine and an Allison 4000 EVS Gen 5 automatic transmission.
4 Malaga’s truck carries a Will-Burt Night Scan Powerlite light tower and an Onan Protec 25-kW PTO generator system.
department
Malaga (NJ) Volunteer Fire Company No. 1
Strength: 30 volunteer firefighters; one station.
Service area: Fire suppression and rescue services to the 4,000 residents of Malaga, an unincorporated community in Franklin Township, NJ, as well as on mutual aid to neighboring jurisdictions.
Other apparatus: 2013 Freightliner pumper, 1,500-gpm pump, 1,250-gallon water tank; 2005 Seagrave rescue-pumper, 2,000-gpm pump, 1,000-gallon water tank, 40-gallon Class A foam tank, 40-gallon Class B foam tank; 2010 Crimson/Freightliner tender (tanker), 1,500-gpm pump, 3,000-gallon water tank, three dump valves; 2005 Ford F-450 brush truck, 160-gpm high-pressure pump, 250-gallon water tank; John Deere® Gator utility terrain vehicle (UTV); pickup truck; two command vehicles; dive team trailer.
The heavy technical rescue truck that SVI Trucks built for Malaga, says Dwayne Woodard, SVI’s regional sales manager, is on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and four-door cab with a 20-inch raised roof and seating for six firefighters, five of which are in H.O. Bostrom 500 Series self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) seats. The technical rescue truck has a 249-inch wheelbase, an overall length of 40 feet 9 inches, and an overall height of 11 feet 2 inches and is powered by a 505-horsepower (hp) Cummins X15 diesel engine and an Allison 4000 EVS Gen 5 automatic transmission.
5 The heavy technical rescue carries both Hurst Jaws of Life eDraulic battery-powered hydraulic tools and an assortment of Hurst hosed hydraulic tools.
6 The truck’s rear compartment houses the Hurst Jaws of Life hosed hydraulic tools, hydraulic hose reels, and a high-pressure quad pump.
7 A transverse compartment occupies the S1 and C1 compartment spaces and contains Paratech Gold struts, a Stokes basket, a backboard, a Genesis Rescue Systems Kodiak Tri-Strut stabilization system, and two boxes of chains.
specs
SVI Trucks Heavy Technical Rescue
- Spartan Gladiator chassis and four-door cab with 20-inch raised roof
- Cab has seating for six firefighters, five in H.O. Bostrom 500 Series SCBA seats
- Wheelbase: 249 inches
- Overall length: 40 feet 9 inches
- Overall height: 11 feet 2 inches
- Cummins 505-hp X15 diesel engine
- Allison 4000 EVS Gen 5 automatic transmission
- Onan Protec 25-kW PTO generator system
- Will-Burt Night Scan Powerlite light tower
- Hannay electric cable reels with power rewind
- OnScene Solutions heavy-duty cargo slides
- Slide-out aluminum vertical tool boards
- OnScene Solutions LED compartment lighting
Woodard notes that the Malaga technical rescue has an Onan Protec 25-kilowatt (kW) power takeoff (PTO) generator system, a Will-Burt Night Scan Powerlite light tower, two power rewind Hannay electric cord reels with junction boxes, a Norcold refrigerator/freezer, OnScene Solutions heavy-duty cargo slides, slide-out aluminum vertical tool boards, and OnScene Solutions LED compartment lighting.
Baldosaro points out that the SVI heavy technical rescue has a transverse compartment in street side 1 and curbside 1 (S1/C1) that holds the department’s Paratech Gold struts, a Stokes basket, a backboard, a Genesis Rescue Systems Kodiak Tri-Strut stabilization system, and two boxes of chains. The S2 compartment holds a variety of battery-operated Milwaukee tools, a Little Giant ladder, and a LED tripod portable scene light, he says, while the C2 compartment has stepped cribbing, air bags, air tools, and a low-pressure air reel that’s supplied by a Speedaire 3.1-hp 10.2-cfm 90-psi air compressor located in the coffin compartment above C2.
Compartment S3 holds water rescue equipment, while C3 has three fuel-powered saws, one battery-powered saw, saw blades, chains, and fuel for the saws. S4 has the Norcold refrigerator and two down-and-out trays, while C4 has two down-and-out trays. Compartment S5 has an electric cord reel and an absorbent hopper, and C5 holds an electric cord reel, a lazy Susan revolving tray for Hurst Jaws of Life eDraulic battery-powered hydraulic rescue tools, a battery charging station for cordless batteries, and two Super Vac PPV fans.
Baldosaro notes the rear compartment on the technical rescue truck holds four high-pressure Hurst Jaws of Life hydraulic hose reels, a high-pressure quad pump, Hurst hydraulic tools mounted on a slide-out tray at the bottom of the compartment, two slide-out tool boards with Hurst tools mounted on the inside of the boards, and hydraulic hose extensions mounted on the outsides. The technical rescue has an SVI-built folding ladder leading to the top where the coffin compartments are located. “The coffins hold a two-section 24-foot extension ladder and a 14-foot roof ladder,” Baldosaro says, “and also the Speedaire air compressor for the low-pressure air reel, rope rescue equipment, and an assortment of other equipment and gear.”
Woodard adds that the heavy technical rescue truck has a Code 3 LED light bar and emergency lighting, FRC LED scene lights at the rear, Code 3 Prism II 12-volt scene lights on the body and the front of the chassis, and FRC Spectra Max LED scene lights on the body. The rig also has a 12,000-pound Warn winch mounted in the front bumper and four receiver points at the front, sides, and rear for a portable 9,000-pound Warn winch.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.
