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Tower-9 Mid-Inspection Trip 9-8-16
By Deputy Fire Chief Steve Stockwell
September 14, 2016
After a long trip up to Wisconsin, Members from the Tower-9 Committee finally arrived at the Pierce Refurb Facility in Weyauwega, WI. This particular facility as I have stated before does legitimate fabrication work for refurbished apparatus, damaged apparatus or extensive modifications. We have seen vehicles that required a whole body to be removed like one of Air Force's Crash Trucks, to Trailers being made for the Government, or a refurbishment from an accident or engine compartment fire - to our own which is reusing vital components of an old apparatus and putting it under a new apparatus. We made a inspection of Tower-9, noted any issues with our specific requests and requirements as every department has their own. We toured the facilities and even saw a few nice apparatus, including Hollywood VFD's New SQ-7. And by the following day when we came in we were amazed that the boom had been placed on the truck when it wasn't expected for a week. These guys don't mess around, as I am told ahead of schedule and are really putting the coal to the fire. Most of these fabricators after speaking with them have a general interest in fabrication or the modification jobs they hold; many of them over 20 years and the two I spoke with had 30 years of experience, so needless to say I was impressed. We wrapped up our trip with the "Hit List" and tied up any other loose ends in preparation for the Final Inspection coming soon. Stay Tuned...
Units:
TWR-9
Mutual Aid:
Pierce
The outriggers won't obviously stick out that far but have pins that allow for them to slide out for maintenance and cab lifting.
Ladder Compartment
Cab Roof
Turntable base.
Pedestal Controls for the Aerial Device.
Boom Lift Cylinders which lift the Aerial Boom up/down
The bucket controls will be mounted vertically in the bucket and the engineer made this a plug and play so you can remove the whole device by unplugging it.
The Boom Sections
KC had some really nice apparatus being built.
And look who we found, Hollywood's new heavy rescue. It looks very nice and the guys on the committee should get a pat on the back.
KC Heavy Rescue 9.
These are acutally tractor drawn brooms for airfields. They have a tractor with a snowblower attached to the front and the broom (lower-middle) deploys 90 degrees to get the rest of the snow.
Pierce's New Striker.
San Diego's Paramedic Wagon.
This is the DD13 from Detroit Diesel, the same type of engine in the Tower-9 minus all the fancy chrome. It will be 525hp and 1950ft-lbs.
If you have never seen the inside of a pump - Steve Wurtz would tell you "Learn Here".
LA County FD.
Minneapolis, MN
Looks like it could be 2nd Districts.
Baltimore City FD
Another LA County Unit.
The DD13 we will have and just to show some scale that engine is about 4ft tall and 8ft long with the Transmission attached.
The Aerial Boom and Bucket installed.
We had some modifications to the bucket made and it turned out really fantastic.
Under the hood. Steve Wurtz was helping so much they could have offered him a job here.
With sky's like this, just before 9-11 - I couldn't help but think, regardless of all the things going on in America today we are truly lucky to live in this county. Where did 15 years go?