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Jeep 1 is still in existance as well. It is tucked away in a Millwood member's garage awaiting the time and money to restore it and it's mini trailer that it pulled.

One reason for so many guns is that many rural departments don't have Trucks and in the absence of ladder pipes for deluge operations, often times the primary Engine for the company will carry an extra deluge setup (in PA often referred to as step guns) For example.... Adams County PA, (where I went to college) we had 26 departments.... Gettysburg PA (Company 1) had the only two aerial devices in the county (Truck 1 and Quint 1) so we ran mutual aid (on the first alarm box assignment often times as far as 35 miles away) Of the 26 departments in the county, they either relied on us for a truck, OR they relied on the closest truck from another county if they were a shorter distance than us.... Truck 1 was (and still is in many box areas) the first due Truck across state lines into MD to cover the National Fire Academy (Emmitsburg MD) until they purchased a tower ladder about 8 years ago. So figure it this way.... If your closest aeriel device is coming from multiples of 10 miles away you may need a few step guns to set up a defensive operation if you roll up on a fully involved building (most often barns or farm houses).

I too have heard of 5in hose reels, but if I recall, the weight of one forces you to a tandem axle and creates a boatload of other problems that make them difficult for typicle suburban applications.... On the other hand, this link is to a rig that we used while I was in college. It carried 5000+ feet of 5in and performed many other support duties. It had a large generator, sump pumps, floating pumps, aux lighting, etc.... It was basically a good support unit for major structure fires OR poor weather. It also had a massive trailer hitch and pulled the county hazmat trailer. http://gettysburgfd.com/wagon1.html

Sutphen has a facility in Montecello, NY (Engines, Tankers, Rescues, Misc.) and a facility in Wisconson (Trucks, Engines, Tankers, Rescues, Misc.) Saulsbury used to be on I-81 south of Syracuse, however they've been bought from what I understand and that facility is being fased out. I believe the buyer was E-One as previouslly mentioned is out of Ocala Florida.

There is a fairly long history of Tankers being pulled into areas with hydrants when they are needed.... Here are a few examples.... I think the MA system in Westchester has this covered fairly well right now. About 8 years ago, Tanker 15 shadowed a New Rochelle engine company for almost 24 hours while the hydrant system was compromised. Briarcliff added Tanker 15 to the box for their fuel truck explosion last year. Chappaqua added several tankers to a job in a low volume area about 4 or 5 years ago Peekskill ran a water shuttle at the big fire they had at the strip mall/car dealership a few months back....

Many departments who's primary dispatch is over 33.96 also have a simulcast over 46.26.

Engine 145 from Chappaqua has a 3in hose reel. It's an early '80's short wheelbase Mack.

There is an article in this months Fire Engineering in the "Volunteer's Corner" regarding "How FAST is your FAS Team." Not how fast can they make a rescue, but how long does it take to respond, stage, sizeup, prepare.....BEFORE they are ready to perform the rescue. Even though I've been living in Florida for 2 months now, It's still pretty clear from talking to some of the members of the service that I keep in touch with, that FAS Teams are still being used as social/political tools for many departments (NOT ALL just MANY) and that many chief's egos or other personal agendas are the driving force on who is called for what and when the call is made. Hopefully these individuals that simply "don't get it" yet will come up to speed before a lesson has to be learned b/c a FAST team was called too late....From too far away.... or with the wrong equipment. Although it is a pipe dream, I hope that sometime in the not too distant future, preplaned FAST dispatch from the closest most capabable department will replace politicizied decision making that only occurs once the fire has progressed to the point where a FAST unit is obviously needed.... If it's obvious that you need the resource.... Then you waited too long to call for it. Just my opinion.... Not directed towards any one officer or department in particular.

Chop up an onion and about 5 cloves of garlic and brown the beef in a pan with them.... Then use DDAY's other componants and simmer. While simmering take a large (or two if you like) green bell pepper and add to the mix along with about a 1/3 teaspoon (I usually go more) ground Cumin, a tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro and two bayleaves (whole not broken up) for simmering. I usually add a little domestic beer to the mix as well if there is time for it to simmer for a while.

Yes... This practice is very common in both paid/volley and rich/poor towns... Doesn't matter it's done all over the country. Essentally you've got a perfectlly good box that simply needs to be repainted outside and have some updated equipment installed inside that is running on a tired chassis of a van or pickup or light commercial chassis. This is a great way to save money. Buy which ever chassis is the best fit, pay a little extra to make sure it's a diesel if you were running a gas fired plant before and maybe even go 4x4 if you have a need.... Two old boxes on new chassis even if you get a top of the line chassis are still cheaper than ordering a new rig. Just make sure that before you to do this that you inspect the box for structual integrity and be sure that it will actually swap without much fabrication to a new chassis. Then sell the old chassis to a someone who can use it as a work truck (landscaper, commercial building, DPW, etc.)

Let me add my two cents... Stop using debit cards to purchase items every day. This is a direct link to your bank account and if something goes wrong your account gets drained.... Use a credit card instead. If someone gets your card and charges on it, you simply report it, cancel the card and the cc company has to deal with the problem. If your debit card gets stolen, the thieves can swipe away until someone asks them for photo ID in which case they say they forgot it and the cashier hands your card back to them for another try at another store. This happened to me on the day I was leaving for my honeymoon last September. I used by debit card for EVERYTHING. I almost never used my credit card because I thought it was too much of a temptation. Well that was bad logic. The week before I got married I went to Target in White Plains. Someone must have memorized my card # while I was holding it in line to check out. Then when I punched in my pin they watched me to that too. What they were able to do is put my account info on a fake card and charge away. My moneymarket was linked to my checking so they drained me of any liquid money I had. The night before I left for my honeymoon in Hawaii I checked my account to move some money into my checking from my moneymarket, and I had $0.00 in my moneymarket and $0.26 in my checking. Thank god we were able to cash our wedding checks into my wife's account (we hadn't merged them yet) and use our CC's in Hawaii, because it took two weeks for me to get a temporary credit of the charges back into my account from the bank fraud unit and another six weeks to resolve the issue all together. My best advise is to carry enough cash to make it through each day, use a credit card as often as possible and only use a debit card if there is no other alternative.

Seagrave made the most popular single axle 100 footers of all time. Briarcliff (catch it before it's gone) has one of the few left that are in the area. My suggestion is to call Seagrave and a few of the other popular rear mount manufacturers and see what they can work with. At times, they are able to build apparatus that the don't show on their web site simply because it's not popular. On the flip side though, most rigs that came single axle and 100ft were not quints they were true trucks. Once you pile all your hose, water, pump, and non-truck (read: Engine) equipment onto a 100ft chassis, you end up with too much weight for a single axle. Ladder 42 in Ossining is an E-One 110footer on a single axle, but again it's a true truck and 15 years old. Ladder 41 is a new KME that's a tandem axle. Also... Remember even though the single rear gives you a little better manuverability, the tandem axle gives you another set of brakes. Food for thought.

On another gun related note, About 7-8 years ago while making an aggressive attempt to stop an attick fire in a row house while I was in college (www.gettysburgfd.com AND http://www.gettysburgfd.com/htst1025.html ) we encountered several boxes of ammunition (not that this was uncommon in a moderatly rural community) that began to discharge. I got caught in the leg (it didn't even pierce my t/o pants as non-chambered ammunition discharges with much less force than that of a chambered round) and my LT and another FF took similar rounds as well BUT the lesson that we learned was from the several loaded guns in the attic. Several discharged but thank god that myself, our officer and the remainder of our crew were not hit. This can happen anywhere in the US not just rural communites on the PA/MD border.

At one point, if I recall, Rye actually had two tillers out of the HQ station. One for the career guys and one staffed by the vollies. Both were Seagraves and had a few years on them.

There are a handful of FDNY rigs that have Federal Q2A and Q2B sirens as well as some older mechanical designs. If I recall, they aren't standard issue due to their cost at several thousand dollars each however I believe that some units have petitioned for their need to supplement their warning systems due to the area that they are in (ie heavy highway use or some other situation). Other units some of the guys simply pitch in to buy a used one. Truck 4 has a mechanical siren as well as Truck 13 if I remeber correctly.

John (585) Unfortunatly I haven't been in the area in about a month and haven't been checking these forums as much, but I'm glad to see that we still agree on so many points including this one. You couldn't have said it better. Too many departments are using their FAS Teams as political and social tools instead of for what they are intended for. I've been a FAST member in Westchester as long as anyone else, and we always (like Croton and a few others) focused on going as a trained and equiped FAST crew, not an engine, truck or rescue company hoping to get put to work because we brought the right piece of apparatus to show off. A FAST crew is there to provide the safest possible enviorment for the engine, truck, rescue and support crews that are already working. They are multiple extra sets of eyes for the IC and Safety officer AND if god forbid they have to get activated to save one of their own, they know as much about the structure and situation as the IC so that they can work efficiently and produce a favorable outcome for their brothers in need. It doesn't matter if they arrived with a pickup truck with a bed full of FAST equipment, or if the same equipement came on a trophy winning piece of apparatus, when that equipment is layed on the ground behind the IC and those FF's are poised and ready to act, that is when a FAST team is ready to do it's job... NOT when they are sitting and hoping to catch the second roof assignement or pull a line through the back door. The sole mental and organizational focus for a FAST crew should be on the potential rescue of a FF not on why they don't get to play at that particular job.

I dated a girl in college who was (might still be) a member in Montgomory Co. Maryland. Check out their Rescue... It's the bottom right pic on the apparatus picture page. http://www.ldvfd.org/apparatus.htm Twin Federal Q's Twin PA100's Twin Mars lights All on the front bumper... If I recall... They have a switch in the cab that pins one of the Q's at full speed until you step on the siren switch. At that time it kills the first Q and spins up the other... I'm not a huge buff when it comes to lights and sires... But I love mechanical sirens... One going up while the other comes down is really cool. Put the PA 100's one on wail the other on yelp and this thing screams going down the road... All it needs now is a set of freight train locomotive air horns like some of the PG county nutz have done. :twisted:

Ahh.. Front end problems... Yes that was the big problem with our 1976 Century Cab LaFrance... The original E-247 that we let go in 1998. The best part of it too was the drive train... Detroit 8V92T.. Very Very powerful and still ran like a top. Loved that rig !

Salvage and recovery is lucrative... Both from the standpoint of getting paid by municipalities, insurance companies, and private individuals or corporations. I'm sure he wouldn't have spent the money to equip that rig if there wasn't a market for it.

Is this the LaFrance that runs next to E-260 out of Hays Hose???? If so it is a crying shame that It's going to be scrapped. That rig would be a front line piece for 10 more years somewhere else... Just look at us giving (ahem selling) E-248 to Witts Spring's, AK... That rig is the best rig in the entire county now.

In a department that has seperate truck, engine and rescue companies, it should be on the truck. Part of their job description is search and rescue. For those departments that don't have seperate companies it should be on the first rig out the door which is usually the engine.

I cannot state this for fact, but what I've been hearing about the old FDNY Rescue is that it's got a ton of salvage equipment on it AND to some extent some rescue equipment... I believe it's got tons of airbags on it, SCUBA salvage gear, rescue equipment, and specialized recovery equipment. Stiloskis also has one of the DOT contracts for HELP trucks and they may have some type of NYS permit for red lights for the throughway to do heavy rescue that requires airbags above and beyond what heavy rescues can provide.

FYI Paul Conway makes the best leather and gold leaf fronts out there.... I would try and strike a deal with them to be a point of distribution.

Whoa... Mike... You put Bart in as Captain.... I haven't resigned yet.... WOW... My bunkers aren't even cold yet. :cry:

It's been a few years, but when I ran with Gettysburg, PA most commercial businesses and non-single family residences would volunteer to participate in the Knox Box program. The key was kept in a "mini safe" looking device on the dog box of our Quint. When we arrived at a job that required a knox box entry, we radioed the county and they would drop a series of tones that would unlock the box on our Quint and we would have access to the key. The officer on that apparatus was then responsible for the key and recording the movement of it until it was placed back into the safe and secured...