Whats your preference on Pump Panel location?

We have 2 side mounts and 1 top mount. I've loved the top mount from the start. It gives you a clear 180 degree view from side to side, as well as keeps you out of the road. A few have suggested the rear mounts, but we have a good bit of highways and a 10 mile stretch of interstate in our response area, and personally behind the truck is somewhere I don't feel comfortable being on the highway.

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Permalink Reply by Cory on February 22, 2009 at 6:23pm

Top with out a doubt!

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Permalink Reply by mcl_fireman 911 on February 22, 2009 at 6:42pm

I prefer the top- mounted pump panel for various reasons. One being it helps get you out of the roadway. A second reason is that the elevated position helps give you a great view of the fire scene. It also helps the person pumping the truck watch out for his fellow brothers while they maybe concentrating on the fire.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Pound on March 20, 2016 at 5:01pm

Is anyone placing pump operators panel on passenger side of engine. Top mount out due to space reqmts.

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Permalink Reply by Amy on June 30, 2016 at 10:45pm

We have one of each: Our tanker is a side mount, our engine a top mount and our new mini attack is a rear mount. They all have pros and cons. I happen to like the side mount most, mostly b/c getting up into the top mount with my damn short legs is a pain in the butt. But you can't beat the view from up there or the safer location. Also with the winters up here in VT, those steps can be lethal! I've used the side mount the most. Everything at eye level, with the truck between me and traffic. I don't care for the rear mount much, but it's new to us - about 2 months, and I haven't worked much with that truck since I am the primary driver/operator for our tanker and if I'm not doing that, I'm interior.

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Permalink Reply by Bud on July 12, 2018 at 2:15pm

In the 35 years I was active in Vermont I operated front mount and midship, front mounts were fine if you were drafting lake, river or a pond or hydrant, I'm not crazy about rear mount kind of leaves your pump operator out for an accident unless it is covered by another piece of apparatus, now a top mount have the best advantage of all they can see the whole scene. Now a midship pump that can keep you on your toes, now if by chance you end up at a scene and the panel is on the opposite side things I think it can make you a better operator by way of following commands over the radio rather than being told face to face. So sometimes the disvantage is better in the long run than the advantage. Being in Vermont or anywhere across the northern states in the winter can be very cold on a top mount truck, midships can be cold but you can get more heat from a midship.