The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Does It Have To be Custom?
Been in the service for awhile and I always wondered why each and every peice of equipment has to be custom. We paid 138k in 1984 230k in 1989 and 500k 2 years ago for engines.I understand inflation but I'm sure if Seagrave, Pierce, KME etc could build one or two type of engines that 400k would go back down to 250-300K. Delivery times would be reduced.
Maybe do what the car industry does and offer limited options. High/low cabinet sides, certain number of discharges/intakes etc.
While I know this would never happen because for some strange reason your fires are different from mine, but think how much easier and cheaper it would be.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by FF Nick on
-
Ferrara Fire has cookie cutters they roll out for the price range you're talking about. They've actually done this for years. We bought a rig in 04 for 180k and all we added was roll out steps beneath the compartment doors. Same setup today is about 240k with anywhere from 60 to 120 day delivery. All built on an HME Chassis, so maybe buying from them might save yet a couple grand more.
Problem is a fire engine starts base line. What they tell you is what you get. You get a 330hp engine that flows with a base model pump that flows 1500GPM with a 1000 gal tank. However, that's not good enough.
Fireman A says we need a booster reel
Fireman B says we need a deck gun
Fireman C says we need roll out trays for the jaws units
Captain Joe wants a firecom system installed
Wouldn't it be cool if we bought a Federal Q?
Don't forget the coffee pot in the cab
What about the extra compartment for medical supplies?
We need 4 discharges on each side of the truck
Now we want the Jaws made stored in the front bumper
Front and rear steemer intakes
Etc etc etc...
See where I'm going? Everything you add is an option and there fore will add to the bottom dollar cost of the truck. The problem is everybody having a say in what your apparatus needs or forming a commitee to decide. The Chief should add what he feels is needed on his truck and that's that. When it comes in you just have to make it work. There's nothing our pumper cannot do than a neighboring department that spent 500k on their pumper back in 2008 can do. They're both custom cabs, they both flow 1500GPM max, and they both have the same amount of equipment as one another with the exception of a chainsaw and toolbox.
-
Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on
-
It is done so the equipment manufacturers can make more money. They could make a 1000 GPM pump, no chrome, 500 gal. tank, with booster line and deck gun that would put out every fire we get. Look at FDNY rigs during the 1970's. They put out all of their fires with no chrome! It can be done. But as Americans a frugal plan is just not going to happen because the FF are not paying for the trucks. If there was only one kind of fire truck for sale it would put out every fire because the engines don't put out jack shit the well trained FF's do.
-
Permalink Reply by Charles McCall on
-
Each rig is those firefighters' baby. Who doesn't want the best for their baby!
-
Permalink Reply by Rachel on
-
Gotta have one that is unique for your department! If not unique what do you have to brag about?
-
Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
-
Gotta agree with ya, but even though our fires are the same our ways of attacking them vary slightly, so every chief and purchasing agent has to have a different set of tools arranged a different way. That's why I can never find anything I'm looking for on a neighboring department's engine. Whew!
-
Permalink Reply by Rod Irvine on
-
that is a an awesome comment your so right it is not the truck that puts out the fire its the trained FFs that do .
-
-
Here In NZ we tend to have one certain truck brand (Scania ) that we use for most of our paid staff appliances we are steadily replacing alot of our busier volly trucks with Ivecos . we seem to have a reasonably good process of filtering our older paid trucks down thru the service to less busy stations but most of our trucks are the same in terms of they have 4 low pressure outlets 2 each side of the pump a deck monitor and 2 booster reels , 1500 litres of water and some have in built class a foam systems but most of them are like i said very much the same , i suppose this is because we are a national service and are run by the government .
-
-
Your skill!
-
-
Having every truck the same makes huge sense. Look at England and NZ.
-
Permalink Reply by Bekks on
-
I would be happy with a brand new "cookie cutter" pumper.
Right now we don't have the luxury of custom ordering trucks.
We buy USED from other departments.
So far, the only modification we have done is our door logo, put our hose and gear on it, and that's it.
If we could get a stock pumper for cheap... WOW... we wouldn't care as long as the cab heater worked in the winter!
-
Permalink Reply by capcityff on
-
Depends on the department. If you live in a smaller area then sure it works. If you have a large city department then sometimes you want different things than the small city. Take our trucks for example. We have 16 truck companies in DC. 14 are tillers. We need these due to our tight streets. Personally I also like them because a tiller truck can be set up with the stick in the air twice as fast as straight trucks. Another truck is a tower. This allows us to be more efficient with rescues. We have the 3rd biggest downtown in the nation with mostly high rises. DC doesn't have huge skyscrapers but the downtown is still all 10-13 story high rises. The last truck is a straight truck with a stick 30 ft longer than the tillers.(135 ft) Sometimes the options are important.
As far as engines, we have smaller ones that can make tight corners. We don't need the compartment space because our engines put out fires. That's their job. We don't carry extrication equipment or a ton of ladders or anything else.
If you're talking about ALL equipment then there still needs to be differences. FDNY has built in bailout kits with their Morning Pride gear. Here in DC we worked with Globe to design new turnouts with the built in harness. Apparently its selling well with other departments even though we can't afford it for our own.(other than the Rescues) Why spend that money in a rural department? You don't need those expensive bailout kits when you have no high rises.
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
