New Heavy Rescue and Engine On the Way for Company 3 |
By Honorary Member Steve Stockwell | |
May 13, 2014 | |
Bay District is happy to announce the contract signing of a New Heavy Rescue and Engine for Company 3 to replace the current Squad-3, a (1995 Spartan/Saulsbury) Single axle walk-through Heavy Rescue and E-32, a (2006 American LaFrance/1500 Gallon Per Minute Pump, 700 Gallon Tank Pumper) destroyed in an accident last December. The Squad-3 Apparatus Committee actually started in February of 2013 with the members of the committee being chosen, 6 in total. Shortly thereafter some committee members attended the Harrisburg Apparatus Show in Harrisburg, Pa were we could scope out some of the latest and greatest in apparatus designs. This is a nationally known show that showcases the apparatus (vehicles). It brings the best in technological advancements in the fire service and helps many departments with ideas and giving us a chance to speak face to face with apparatus manufacturers. After many hours of research and reviewing the National Standards i.e. NFPA 1901, we started writing the spec. This is the document that would then be sent to the apparatus manufacturer and is written from scratch by the department. It covers the apparatus in a very detailed way, from choosing the paint color for the frame; to the organization of the seats and what options are available and chosen. A draft version is then finished and sent to the members for review upon which, we get together and discuss the changes and make a finalized version. That Final version is what is submitted to the apparatus manufacturers. Finally the committee makes a decision on what manufacturer they would like to sign a contract with. In the end, the committee chose Pierce Fire Apparatus Manufacturing. Our relationship with Pierce/Atlantic Emergency Solutions has been outstanding and the quality of their product is excellent, our regional salesman Randy Schwartz is a very customer service oriented guy with a great reputation and is currently a firefighter in Fairfax County, VA with over 25 years... so he is certainly familiar with our job. I would also like to take the time to say thank you to the other bidders for all their hard work with us during the last year. Some of the options that will be included on the New Squad-3 are: - 15,000lb Warn Bumper Mounted Winch Committee Members Chairmen Steve Stockwell, Member Tommy Fairfax, Now for me it seems like Eat, Sleep and Repeat and after Engine-32’s loss, I was asked to start looking into a replacement for E-32. I started on the details for the replacement of E-32. A committee was chosen in February 2014 and after doing much of the same process for Squad-3 we began to write a draft spec and then finalizing that version, so we could submit it to manufacturers. As we were under a time crunch from about Mid-February until the middle of April we quickly and tirelessly worked to complete this apparatus spec. The committee wanted something similar to Engine-91 as it served as a template for us as a reference, and simple to use, fix and operate. On Friday, May 9th the department signed and choose to go with Pierce Fire Apparatus/Atlantic Fire Solutions for the purchase of the pumper. Some of the options that will be included on the New Engine-32, affectionately known to us as “War Wagon III” are: - Manual Front Intake Valve Committee Members Chairmen Steve Stockwell, Member Danny Burroughs, Squad-3 is due for delivery in October and Engine-32 is due in approximately November give or take. Please stay tuned for more updates as they come available. Finally, I would like to thank the following for their invaluable help throughout this process and on to Tower-9 we go. Fire Chief Robert Wahrenbrock, Past Chief Shawn Downs, And obviously the committee members for donating their personal time away from their family and spending countless hours and hours, working extremely late and still having normal jobs/lives working to build apparatus that will serve our community for a long time to come. |
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Units: | SQ-3 and E-32 |