While many fire departments are going the route of multiuse apparatus, it’s not always possible to get all the equipment you need on a single chassis because the rig would be unmanageably large.
So, departments turn to specialty vehicles for needed equipment that can’t be shoehorned into their everyday rigs. Such vehicles most commonly include air/light trucks but also ventilation and dive/rescue trucks as well as other specialty rigs.
Joe Messmer, president of Summit Fire Apparatus, notes that Summit has built a number of air/light trucks, several breathing air recharge trucks, ventilation trucks, and rehab trucks for both large and small fire departments. “The air/light trucks usually are on a medium-duty commercial chassis where the front compartment is reserved for storage of the 6,000-pounds-per-square-inch (psi) storage cylinders for the air cascade system,” Messmer says. “We’ve put as many as 10 6,000-pounders in a special steel assembly that bolts to the truck’s frame instead of attaching to the body, which would not be able to bear the weight. The assembly is designed that the department can easily get the cylinders out for testing when necessary.”
Messmer observes that air/light trucks always have air reels and electric reels on them, as well as a generator, typically in the 80-kW to 100-kW range. “We have put in both engine and hydraulic-powered compressors but have found that electric is best and have had the least amount of trouble with 33-cubic-feet-per-minute (cfm) at 6,000-psi compressors,” he says.
1 Summit Fire Apparatus built this air/light truck with dual light towers for the Kenton County (KY) Fire Department. (Photos 1-3 courtesy of Summit Fire Apparatus.)
2 Summit built this ventilation truck with an 8-foot-diameter SuperVac fan on the rear for the Point Pleasant (KY) Fire Department.
3 The Northern Kentucky Hazardous Materials Task Force had Summit build this CBRNE rig.
He adds that Summit built an air/light truck for the Prince George’s County (MD) Fire/EMS Department that has a 100-cfm compressor and fill stations inside a walk-in section at the rear of the truck. Firefighters put empty cylinders in a driver’s side rack, which is also accessible from the inside, and after the cylinders are filled, they are placed in an interior rack on the officer’s side that’s accessible from outside. “Two firefighters can work in the fill area, which is air conditioned and also has a water heater off the truck’s engine to warm the space when it’s cold,” Messmer says.
Summit also built a ventilation truck with an 8-foot-diameter fan for the Point Pleasant (KY) Fire Department. The fan is a SuperVac model with misting capabilities secured to the truck’s flatbed and powered by a Duramax diesel engine. Messmer says that other types of specialty rigs Summit has built include a 20-foot, walk-in rehab trailer for the Salvation Army in Cincinnati that carries a large refrigerator and is climate-controlled with two air-conditioning units on the roof and an LP gas furnace; a 20-foot mass casualty evacuation trailer for the Greater Cincinnati Hospital Council; and a CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive) trailer with a small laboratory in the rear for the Northern Kentucky Hazardous Materials Task Force.
Andy Callaway, southern United States vice president of sales for Frontline Communications, a division of Pierce Manufacturing Inc., says Pierce and Frontline recently built a mobile rehab truck and a mobile decontamination truck for Pasco County (FL) Fire Rescue. Callaway says the mobile rehab truck is on a Pierce Velocity® chassis with a 46-foot 5-inch overall length and a 13-foot 6-inch overall height.
He notes the rig has two slide-outs; a 20-kW generator; four 15,000-Btu roof-mounted air conditioners; four 16-foot electric awnings; a Will-Burt Night Scan 15-foot LED light tower; two wet lavatories with exterior entrances; a hand-washing sink at the entry door to the operations area; a 20-cubic-foot refrigerator; and a separate kitchen with a rear entry, a second 20-cubic-foot refrigerator, a full-size freezer, two coffeemakers, a microwave, a sink, storage cabinets, and a pass-through window to service the crew outside the vehicle. The rig also has a Bauer self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) 6,000-psi compressor and fill station with three additional air cylinders and exterior monitor displays for those working outside the rig.
4 Loudoun County (VA) Fire and Rescue had Pierce Manufacturing and Frontline Communications build this air/light truck. (Photos 4-6 courtesy of Pierce Manufacturing Inc. and Frontline Communications.)
5 Pierce and Frontline also built a mobile rehab truck for Loudoun County (VA) Fire and Rescue.
6 The Loudoun County mobile rehab truck has a compartment holding a double sink and two faucets so firefighters can clean up on the scene.
Callaway says Pasco County’s mobile decon unit is built on a Pierce Velocity chassis and two-door cab, with a 45-foot 4-inch overall length and a 12-foot 11-inch overall height. The unit has 20-kW and 40-kW generators, two Meiko decon washers, two 100-gallon water tanks for the washers, two Shurflo electric water pumps and on-demand water heaters, a heavy-duty aluminum rod assembly along the street and curb side interior walls for hanging turnout gear, and 120 sets of Dry-Kwik and flat-dry hangers for onboard turnout gear to rotate on site.
The mobile decon unit has entrances at the rear and on the curb side with fold-out steps, four 16-foot electric awnings, a 15-foot Will-Burt Night Scan LED light tower, two 15,000-Btu roof-mounted air conditioners, two 100-foot heavy-duty water hoses with electric reels, and four swing-out tool boards with LED lighting.
Bill Proft, rescue products business unit director for Pierce Manufacturing, says Pierce recently built a rehab truck and a breathing air truck for Loudoun County (VA) Fire and Rescue. “Both trucks are on Peterbilt commercial chassis with a single rear axle,” Proft says. “The rehab truck is a walk-in that has a small restroom on the street side that’s accessed from the outside. The breathing air truck is similar in size to the rehab rig but is a walk-around with a 3M™ Scott Safety™ compressor in a compartment over the rear wheels and two RevolveAir fill stations in the compartment in front of the rear wheels.”
7 Marion Body Works Inc. built this air/light truck on a Freightliner chassis for the Nashville (TN) Fire Department. (Photos 7-8 courtesy of Marion Body Works Inc.)
8 Marion built this rehab truck for the Hartford (CT) Fire Department on a Spartan custom cab with a 20-foot body that has bench seating and refrigerators inside.
Chad Newsome, national sales manager for Rescue 1, says, “Every one of our trucks are specialty units and often are segmented for various operational disciplines, such as marine use, collapse, or hazmat.” He says many of the trucks the company builds are true rescue trucks that not only carry various types of rescue equipment but also serve the function of air/light trucks.
“Many departments are putting two light towers and air cascade systems and bottle fill stations on their rescues instead of purchasing a separate air/light vehicle,” he adds.
Newsome notes that Rescue 1 built an air/light/rescue truck for the Union (RI) Fire District on a Spartan Metro Star single rear axle chassis with a two-door cab and walk-in body, a single light tower, and an air cascade system and fill station and a larger version air/light/rescue for the Montgomery County (MD) Fire & Rescue Service on a Spartan Gladiator dual rear axle chassis with a walk-around body.
Ross Fischer, new product development manager for Marion Body Works Inc., says Marion recently built three air cascade trucks for the Nashville (TN) Fire Department built on a Freightliner chassis with air fill stations at the rear of the walk-in bodies. “There are roll-up doors on each side of the back of the truck with a man-size door at the rear,” Fischer says. “Firefighters put empty bottles in one side of the truck, and after they are filled in the interior air fill station, the bottles are placed in racks on the other side.” He adds that the trucks carry an Eagle Air cascade system, an Onan generator, and electric cord and air reels.
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.
