All 'Apparatus' ↓

OAKLAND — A new generation of fire engine, specially designed to navigate tight city streets, made its public debut Monday on the 17th anniversary of the Oakland hills fire.

The new rigs are about two feet shorter in length than older models, ride higher off the ground to achieve better clearance and are slightly shorter in height. The turning radius is also much improved, officials said.

Oakland Fire Department Deputy Chief James Williams

“These rigs are specially designed to navigate the neighborhoods of the Oakland hills,” said fire Chief Daniel Farrell, after calling for a minute of silence to honor the fire battalion chief, police officer and 23 civilians who died 17 years ago in California’s worst fire on record.

The new design, concocted by a team of Oakland Fire Department firefighters and engineers and custom-built for the department by a Wisconsin manufacturer, runs a little over $400,000 per vehicle, Farrell said. The department ordered six, of which three arrived about two weeks ago. The rest are expected in February or March of next year.

“These vehicles are very expensive, but we anticipated needing to buy them and set the money aside,” Farrell said, crediting department Chief Financial Officer Donna Hom with making the new vehicles an affordable part of the department’s budget.

“Over the past five or six years we’ve come in under budget consistently, and returned to the city over $10 million. We’re aggressive about going after grants and other ways of bringing money to the department, and we watch each and every dime we spend,” Farrell said.

The department’s 25 fire stations house 36 fire engines, not including ladder trucks and other vehicles, Farrell said. The new engines will rejuvenate the fleet as three older engines, some dating back to 1992, are retired from service.

“We don’t like to keep engines in our department past 10 or 12 years, at the most,” Farrell said. “This department answers 60,000 calls a year, and we put a lot of mileage on them.”

The new rigs are expected to begin answering fire calls in mid-November, after local firefighters have had the chance to thoroughly test each truck and install radios and computer systems, Captain James Ready said.

WestCoast911 News tip Submitted by member MethodMan - Story and Photos by The Oakland Tribune

FFD was the fifth team in the state to obtain a Type 1 rating for Haz Mat and now has 2 Type 1 teams.

The Fresno City Fire Department has two new hazmat trucks, outfitted with the latest equipment and state of the art technology,that were funded through the Department of Homeland Security.

Photo courtesy of ksee24.com

Both the trucks and equipment were purchased with nearly $1 million in federal funds allocated by the state.

Monday morning the Director of California’s Office of Homeland Security, Matthew Bettenhousen, talked about how Fresno’s hazmat team has become a vital part in ensuring California is ready for an emergency.

In the last five years, the Fresno Fire Department’s hazmat team has grown from 27 to more than 60 trained technician-specialists.

The department is also in the process of training a second ten member team.

Fresno Fire Chief Randy Bruegman said Fresno’s hazmat teams are not only a resource for the Valley, but for the state and the nation as well. They can be sent to assist other teams, virtually anywhere.

West Coast 911 news tip from FF Tracy, Fresno City FD - Story by KSEE 24 News

One Detroit firefighter needed stitches in his head and another has a broken arm after their truck flipped on Woodward Avenue on their way to a fire this morning.

Two other firefighters were not seriously hurt when the truck skidded and rolled onto its roof at 7:15 a.m. at West McNichols Detroit Fire Department Captain and acting Battalion Chief Michael Gallo said.

“I was sitting right here and I was like, ‘Damn! He ain’t gonna make it,’” said Michelle Martin, 41, of Detroit, who watched the wreck happen from the window at her desk as she dispatched for Metropolitan Cab Company. “It was on two wheels.

They tried to cut that corner too fast.”

She said she saw all four firefighters thrown from the truck, although the squads are equipped with seatbelts. One was nearly crushed, she said.

“He was this far from being landed on by the fire truck,” she said as she held her palms a couple of inches apart in front of her.

On their way to what turned out to be a fire in a vacant house about a mile north of the accident, the crew is lucky they weren’t more seriously injured, a concerned co-worker said.

“Somebody could have been killed the way it flipped, said Detroit Fire Sgt. Randy King, 47. He responded to his co-workers’ accident rather than relieving them at 8 a.m. shift change at their Dexter Boulevard station. “Everyone’s like a close family here, so we were concerned. We see those guys every morning; it’s just like a family member being in an accident.”

The truck, Rescue Squad 5, was rushing to a house fire at West Hollywood and Woodward.

Stripes of red and white paint scarred the road where the truck skidded across Woodward, coming to rest upside-down in the street. Northbound Woodward Avenue was closed through 1:15 p.m. for the investigation and clean-up.

DFD squads like the one that crashed carry firefighters and equipment to fires, and, ironically, are the rigs that respond to rollover vehicle accidents.

West Coast 911 firefighting news source - The Detroit Free Press

Philadelphia Sn 28 was raising the lower boom to get the bucket closer to the ground so two costumed mascots could enter. They were going to ride the truck in the bucket to the National Nite Out festivities several blocks up the road. The knuckle of the waterway made several contacts with the high voltage lines and then got stuck to them. The result is in JD’s photo. And no one was injured except for some bruised egos.

West Coast 911 firefighting news source - Nevada Power

The San Bernardino City Fire Department recently placed their newest vehicle in service to help protect and serve the citizens of it’s community.

The new Ford quad cab vehicle, will be staffed with 2 Firefighter Paramedics and run as the first unit out for medical-aids.

Medic Squad 226 is housed at fire station number 6 on Del Rosa Avenue, along side a Paramedic Engine.

These photos were submitted by WestCoast911.com member and SBFD firefighter Ken Konior. Thanks Ken!

The SBFD “Apparatus Committee” was recently back in Appleton, Wisconsin at the Pierce Factory working with Sales Rep Kevin Newell. Currently, the San Bernardino City Fire Department is in the process of purchasing seven fire engines and two aerial ladder trucks from Pierce Manufacturing, Inc.. The SBFD is purchasing seven PUC’s with the Arrow XT chassis and two tractor drawn aerial ladder trucks, also with the Arrow XT

The SBFD and it’s current fleet, which is almost entirely Pierce is looking to replace seven of the twelve front line engines that were last purchased in 1999. The SBFD is a very busy fire department and four of the seven engines, currently have over a 100,000 miles on them. Battalion Chief Mike Alder and Denis Moon head up the committee, which consists of two Captains (Kevin Bathgate & Dan Harker), two Engineers (Jim Davis & Pat Burton), and one Fire Mechanic (Tony Zamora). Mike and Denis have been involved in the apparatus specification process for the SBFD since 1990 and have learned a lot over the years and have seen quite a few technological changes. The SBFD apparatus committee is really looking forward to taking delivery of the seven engines and two trucks. For the first time, they have been able to build an engine that will have the type of compartmentation that they need for their firefighting and ALS demands as well as a 178″ wheel base that they need for maneuverability”.

Some of the other issues that they were dealing with had to do with firefighting efficiency and safety. As popular as the SCBA seats are in the fire service they had observed problems with seat belt use while responding to fires. The committee along with the fire department staff felt that it is very difficult to wear the seat belt and the bottle at the same time. They removed the bottles and placed them in a compartment and attempted to give their personnel more leg room and comfort. At the same time it, they will eliminate the problem of the Captain trying to get his/her bottle on quickly and catch up with two other firefighters that are more than ready to get inside the building.

Another big change was the elimination of pre-connected attack lines and replaced with a manifold system that allows for very simple hose deployment and a more systematic and efficient charging of the attack lines. The PUC also has pump and roll capability.

The two tractor drawn aerial ladders have a medium duty 250 lb tip load Pierce aerial ladder and they eliminated the use of a pre-plumbed waterway. The apparatus committee felt that the vast majority of their aerial ladder use was to access the roof of a building for ventilation and the pre-plumbed waterway made it more difficult to quickly ladder buildings, always having to be aware of the pinnable waterway location. In the rare event that the SBFD has to resort to a “Ladder-Pipe” operation, the deployment of the 3″ hose may be a little slower but at that point what is the big hurry?

The SBFD should be taking delivery of four engines and one truck at the end of May and the delivery of the other three engines and the other truck at the end of June. If you have any questions regarding the apparatus specs and the thought process behind the decisions that were made for the development of the PUC and the Tractor Drawn Aerials please feel free to contact Battalion Chief’s Mike Alder or Denis Moon at 909-384-5279 or you can also contact the Pierce Sales Rep Kevin Newell (South Coast Fire Equipment) at 909-673-9900.

Got a new delivery or just a really nice rig?  Submit your pictures and information to:  info@westcoast911.com