WCDES-FTA

The vehicle you have seen is car 2001, WCDES Chief of Special Operations, He lives in Port Chester area.

According to the Visting Fireman publication-"Fire Apparatus photo album of non-municipal equipment", the Tappan Zee bridge has had a few rigs assigned to it over the years. 1965 International cab-over/Ward Lafrance 350gpm/1000/50 foam 1976 Ford F-350 4x2/Pierce 250gpm/250 Besides the bridge, Thruway had a fleet of rigs that at one time covered pretty much the whole Truway 1956 Chevrolet/Young 250gpm/330/50 foam/100 dry chem These rigs when removed from service were either auctioned off or offered to FD that had that part of the thruway in their district. Also listed is the rig on the GWB prior to the 10-wheel White cab-over was 1977 White/Gibson 700gpm/2000/200 foam

I know that FDNY has a vehicle designed to support a Vac truck. It belongs to SOC. It has a large air compressor, several pieces of extension pipe and flex suction hose and other assorted tools. You can find a picture on FDNYtrucks.com in the special unit section.

Kinda reminds me of the Daytona that E-One marketed a few years ago. Also looks a little like a old Hahn with the low windshield

All of Thornwoods rigs are that color except their antique, it is painted red and utility 55, a 4 door GMC pickup,is painted white. For some other pictures of TFD rigs, go to Mike Martinelli's site FDNYTrucks, and look under section for westchester. A well used joke is that TFD's rigs are red with 2 BIG yellow stripes.

That is a old Westchester County airport ARFF unit.

Just for the record, and not to split hairs but, Virginia rd school is in Greenburgh. It is on the Fairview FD side of Virginia Rd, but it is in the Valhalla School district.

2 more for that list: One is located on the Sprain Brook down by Jackson Ave. The other is between 9A and the Sawmill In Yonkers. I'm not sure of the location, I think it is north of E-310 quarters.

About 4 years ago or so, on I-40 near Santa Rosa,New Mexico, I saw 2 car carriers with old NYPD and Mass state PD cars and 3 flatbed trailers with what I thought were about 9 old ambulances in FDNY colors. It was early in the morning just after sun up and the 5 trucks came down a hill with the sun behind them. Only got a quick view of the first 2 trucks but, saw the last 3 better. They didn't answer on the CB,so I didn't find out where the were heading, and I forgot about them until now when I saw x635's picture.

correction-kidde-fire.com sorry about that

go to Kiddie-fire.com-open National Foam link, it has info on this system

It will run, schedule is starting to form for the beginning of the year.

It dosen't look like a lift tag axle,It might be a steering assisted rear axle. Due to California weight laws, the unit might have been to heavy for a single axle, but not heavy enough for a twin screw. And in order to cut down the steering radius, they make the non-driving axle a sterring type unit. It dosen't crab or such,just tracks with the front axle in the direction of the turn.

I believe in North Castle's DPW yard there is a Oshkosh possibly R-series equiped with plow and right hand wing. Yonkers DPW had some older W-models, with packer bodies and plows. Thruway has a few HB models with snow throwers in the sysytem. Walthers were more the norm in NY due to the fact they were made in NYC then in Voorhees, until KME bought them and moved operations to PA. As you get futher upstate, you find Oshkosh rigs stored in the back of DPW yards all bladed up, ready for the worst old man winter can throw at them. Anybody got any in there DPW yards?

Articulating fire apparatus do exsist. Some of our members who have ARFF or military Firefighting experience might have seen the crash uits that were based on Caterpillar scraper chassis. They usually have the tractor unit from a scraper and then a massive water tank was made with a on-board pump, foam tank and system and then 1 or 2 turrets on top of the unit. They are really unusual in design but I have been told they worked very well. Also a small fire apparatus manufacturer in Canda has been building articulated crash units for work in the regions of Canda and Alaska that are tundra type condidtions, where mud and snow are the norm for most of the year. If I find any photos will try to post them.

In reference to the Boston hook, there is a good picture of it and description on Firehooksunlimited.net web page. You will also see the SanFrancisco hook, Eckert tool, Providence hook and the New Yorker hook, as well as some others.