Bnechis

Just saying

They will be dead for 10 more minutes. Boy that's got to hurt.

No I was implying that many depts. do not even have an officer on the rig

Yes it can lead to more flexibility, but most depts. do not operate as FDNY does. You have greater supervision (imagine actually having a trained officer on every engine), your rigs are set up so the do not rely on the front intake (flexibility that as I mentioned some depts. cant use the side intakes) and tend to not max out your pump capacity (because you use more pumps at an incident than most).

That either slows the rig down from starting its attack or makes the hydrant man walk back to the rig when he realizes he forgot it. Easier to just carry a simple reducer so you can go off the 2.5"

In NYC, the FDNY rarely gets to do this, because the traffic units will have it on the hook and off to the yard, long before the FD gets a call.

Yes supplying a couple of hand lines is not a problem. But once you have hooked up with that front suction, very few depts. will redo it later in the fire when the hand lines did not work and they go to defensive operations, (and often claim "bad Hydrants did not help). I see a lot of depts. that have the front swivel have very pretty painted steamer caps on the side and are not even set up to bring water into the pump through the steamer (without hard suction). When we hook to a hydrant we use 5" LDH, even if we only need 1 or 2 lines, because later on we might need all of it. Its only good for tight streets if the MPO keeps it in tight. I have taken a number of pics of depts. that that 1st engine blocked out the tower because of the front suction (then you don't need to supply it).

That is a front bumper mount, it will not fit on a hydrant. If you want to put a 90 degree elbow on the hydrant it is doable, but more s*** to unload when you stop at the hydrant. Why not use the side outlet? And that elbow on the front bumper is a giant waste. Adds $40,000 - &60,000 to the cost (plus additional maintenance costs), the friction loss to get from the front bumper to the pump is equal to 112+ feet of hose (to travel 15 feet) and it reduces the flow by up to 30%. In other words why buy a 1,500gpm pump when you plan to cap its supply at 1,000gpm? Final issue with the front swivel is that without very good driver discipline, I have seen many cases where the driver will nose into the hydrant, this causes the tail end to push out into the street. Thus blocking other apparatus, including the truck.

If their were fewer cars this wouldn't be an issue. Most cities were built 100-200 years before cars. Even if their was more parking, if this was the cheapest or most convenient space, someone would park there.

Agreed. Going this way put firefighters in danger. How much water is going to flow through this? This was done to prove a point to the car owner, but at the potential expense of members operating and potential loss of more of the fire building.

Their are plenty of parking garages, to many drivers feel they should not have to pay for parking and these "spaces" have no meters.

They used a battery powered saw with a diamond blade.

Its really sad that it took this long, but Bobby is a great fire officer, great teacher and they could not have gotten a better man for the job. Best of luck.

But that was long after we purchased this vehicle. So what do you consider: "Made in America" My Honda from Ohio or My Ford that was made in Canada?

This is why NFPA 1901 requires AED's on all apparatus even if you do not provide EMS 1st Response. This is why all firefighters should have CPR and even CFR or EMT as a minimum.

A few years ago my dept was looking to purchase a commercial box truck to convert to an MCI support vehicle. We were told that the GMC & Isuzu were basically the same so we selected a GMC unit because it sounded more "American". A few months before delivery the dealer called us and said: "I've got good news and bad news" The good news is your GMC chassis VIN # 123456789 has been loaded on to a ship in Kobe Japan and should be in Baltimore in 3 weeks. Now the bad news in a federal bankruptcy court ruling last night GMC can no longer sell this unit......But if you are willing.... I have an Isuzu chassis vin # 123456789 (identical vin) which has been loaded on to a ship in Kobe Japan and should be in Baltimore in 3 weeks you can have it at no additional cost. It turns out That GM owns both companies. The vehicles are identical until they get to the US and the stickers are added.

Does the mounting of the siren make a difference? So lets compare. In the 1st picture the Q2 is completely recessed in the bumper. This provides good protection for the siren, but since the majority of the sound comes from the side not the front, the sound is directed under the bumper and into the cab. Also this design defeats the strongest bumper by cutting such a big hole in it. This reduces the crashworthiness of the cab. In the 2nd pic. its mounted above the bumper, less protection for the siren, but the sound is pushed forward of the cab more than other arraignments. In the 3rd pic a shroud is added, this forces more of the sound forward away from the cab In pic 4 the siren is only partially recessed allowing the sound to travel, but the siren is more vulnerable to damage. The addition of crash protection protects it, but does reduce some of the effectiveness of the siren. Every item on a rig is a compromise. One needs to evaluate the pros and cons of each of these

Many years ago we tested the siren noise at each riding position (with windows up & down) and found that the Db levels were below the NIOSH / OSHA levels where hearing protection would be required. I don't know if this could play into it. A big problem with the head sets (like seatbelts) is compliance. Even when provided, we find most members do not want to use them.

If you do not quantify what is equal and or list what specific features of the quantum you will/will not accept anything else like its unique fold out steps. then no one else can win the bid. Of more importance the moment you list a name, all the other vendors back off, because they are not willing to throw money away, when you have made it clear you will be buying a Pierce. I have seen on a number of these types of bids where the vendor will show up at the bid deadline with 2 sealed bids. If no one else bids, they will at the last minute before bid closing they will put in the higher bid. I have seen this be as much as $60,000 extra.

I think others have answered. But this has been put out as a "Competitive Bid". The moment you put one manufactures name on it, its no longer competitive, since none of the other venders will put the time & $$$ ($10,000 - $20,000 per bid) to put something together. The customer has stated "or equal" and they get to determine after the fact what that is. NYS law requires competitive bidding for purchases over $500. Their are exemptions. For example if their is a pierce quantum demo unit they saw and want they can go back to the village board (City council, Board of fire commish. etc.) And if the elected oversight board agrees that a sole source no bid is in the best interest of the tax payer they can authorize it. These are usually done because of a very good price, immediate delivery date, or as an emergency purchase (a wall fell on the rig & its gone and we cant wait for a replacement to be built.

That's not a bid according to NYS Law

In my opinion giving these 'hints" that its an "A" patient or "E" or whatever, causes crews to be come more lax in protecting themselves on all the other calls. You should be just as cautious on every call. How many patients do not know or will lie about it?

Universal (I believe) Con Ed purchased them

It is very dangerous to use a "standard" vac truck to rescue a trapped worker. When we use Con Ed's trucks we have extension tubing (which also gets the vehicles noise, weight and vibration away from the trench) but of great importance it has a safety break. Without one you should never be in the trench with one...very dangerous to the victim and rescuers.. In the Rye incident, we used both Rye's and ConEd's. Rye's was on scene well ahead of all mutual aid. Was way to close to the trench and luckily it did not cause the trench to collapse. Also Con Ed sends at least 2 trucks, because once filled its out of service till it can be dumped and depending on location this may take some time. By using the extensions the truck can be released easily to go dump. Rye's truck was pinned in, so if it needed to dump it would not be able to.

That's true, the ones in Westchester are still toning for any available driver