French Broad (NC) Volunteer Fire & Rescue Gets Side-Mount Custom Pumper from KME

Special Delivery Alan M. Petrillo

French Broad Volunteer Fire & Rescue wanted to replace a 1999 International commercial chassis pumper that had outlived its usefulness, so it called on SAFE Industries to suggest a replacement. The department had previously worked with SAFE Industries, which refurbished a different pumper for it.

“That 1999 International worked well for us for many years, but it needed to be replaced, so we donated it to a fire department that was running an early 1980s American LaFrance engine as their first out pumper,” says Matthew Shelton, French Broad’s chief. “We hooked up with KME through SAFE Industries, and they told us about the Spartan FC-94 chassis and cab, and we liked what we heard and saw. We especially wanted a lower hosebed, a minimum 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump that is the Insurance Services Office (ISO) minimum for this area of North Carolina, hinged doors instead of roll-up doors, and a pumper that was less than 39 feet long and no more than 11 feet high because of station limitations.”

Cameron Marler, apparatus salesman for SAFE Industries, says French Broad found what it needed in a KME-built pumper on a Spartan FC-94 chassis and medium four-door (MFD) cab with a 10-inch raised roof that has seating for six firefighters, five of them in H.O. Bostrom self-contained breathing apparatus seats (SCBA) with SecureALL^™ locking brackets. The wheelbase on the French Broad pumper is 187 inches, the overall length is 38 feet 11⁄2 inches, and the overall height is 11 feet.

1 French Broad (NC) Fire & Rescue had KME build it a custom pumper on a Spartan FC-94 chassis and MFD cab. (Photo 1 courtesy of French Broad Fire & Rescue.)

Marler points out that the French Broad pumper is powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 engine and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission and carries a Waterous CSU-C20 2,000-gpm pump and a 1,000-gallon polypropylene water tank.

Tim Besser, sales manager for KME, notes that French Broad got its low hosebed on the FC-94 rig. “The hosebed is 60 inches off the ground, and [the tank] still has 1,000 gallons of water,” Besser says. “The hosebed holds 1,000 feet of 4-inch large-diameter hose (LDH), 300 feet of 3-inch hose, one 200-foot preconnected 21⁄2-inch hoseline, and two 200-foot preconnected 13⁄4-inch hoselines off the rear, all covered by a Lock-N-Load^™ treadplate hose cover.” He notes there’s a swing-out cross bar at the top rear of the pumper that makes it easier for firefighters to reload the hosebed.

Shelton adds that the pumper also has two 200-foot 1 3⁄4-inch hose crosslays above the side-mount pump panel and 100 feet of 1 3⁄4-inch hose preconnected to a 2 1⁄2-inch discharge fitted with a gated wye in the extended front bumper. “We wanted the flexibility to be able to work off of any side of this pumper,” Shelton observes, “which is why we have preconnects that can access all points of the compass.”

Shelton notes that French Broad also required an unusual setup at the rear of the pumper to accommodate hard suction sleeves. “On the bottom center of the hosebed, there’s an open compartment for two 7-foot hard suction sections and two pike poles,” he says, “and on top of the truck are two 6-foot hard suction sections in a top right compartment.”

He points out that the department eliminated gasoline-powered tools and equipment on the pumper with the exception of a Honda portable generator. “That’s the only piece of equipment on the pumper that uses gasoline,” Shelton says. “All our other power tools and our Genesis Rescue Systems 17C combi tool are battery-powered.”

2 The French Broad pumper has a Waterous CSU-C20 2,000-gpm pump and a 1,000-gallon water tank. (Photos 2-5 courtesy of SAFE Industries.)

3 The extended front bumper on the rig has 150 feet of 1¾-inch hose preconnected to a 2½-inch discharge and a gated wye.

4 The rear of the pumper has two 7-foot hard suction lengths and two pike poles in an open compartment under the hosebed and two 6-foot hard suction lengths in a compartment at the top of the rig.

5 The French Broad pumper has a swing-out cross bar at the top rear of the hosebed to make it easier for firefighters when reloading hose.

The other important consideration for French Broad on its new pumper was to have it blacked out as much as possible. “We have black wheels on the pumper, all our diamond plate is blacked out with Rhino Shield, there are red and black chevrons at the rear, and we used silver leaf instead of gold leaf,” Shelton points out.

Besser adds that the French Broad pumper has three full-height/full-depth compartments on each side of the rig and a large lower compartment under the hosebed at the rear. “This pumper is a good example of a fire department doing a lot more with the body on a conservative custom chassis,” he says.

Lighting on the rig includes a Whelen LED warning light package and HiViz FireTech Guardian LED scene lighting.

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.