Capejake72

very nice rig Fouts Brothers does some really sharp work, esp on their brush trucks

well this is going to make life difficult, as i plan on joining the union once im certified (state forestry firefighter) and plan on joining a local department to volunteer to keep the experience up until i can get on somewhere career

we have something similair here in Florida, DOT staffs units called Road Rangers who will assit in traffic control for MVAs, do tire service, out of gas calls etc, and assist stranded motorists, some road I-10 & I-4 they actually have their own tow trucks, on I-75 & I-95 they just have pickups with lights

i would say go out and get to know your local towing and recovery services, they have the equipment already, and people who are qualified and knowledgeable in its use. train with them and work out an agreement on calss where you will need somethig like this then work with your dispatch center to notify them when you do need them, most towing companies have a rotation/on-call system of their own to answer calls

firefighter one (at least in Florida) is a 160 hour class (which ill get to do in about 80 hours of clas and practical)

we have units like that here, 1 per Forestry District (3-5 counties) it's stainless steel, so i can be used for potable water as well as water supplies for firefighting, but it's not something we roll regularly. on the last laarge brush fire I was on, a commercial pool supplier rolled up in his semi-tanker and offered it as a water supply to the fire departments, 8,000 gallons goes a long ways in a non hydrant district, esp when the local FD had only 1 water tanker of its own , a rig like this is best suited for nurse tanker, set up your dump tanks around it, let it draft out of them to keep itself topped off, and have it supply engines or refill brush trucks, or else set it up as the fill point on a tanker shuttle, something like this is too big and takes too long to fill to make it work well in a water shuttle system also i would question putting the pump on the tractor like this, unless you plan on disconnecting it to use the pump elsewhere, what if the tractor is OOS for maintenance? then you have no pump, any semi tractor can pull a tanker, but i hate dedicating one unit like that, put a prime mover and 1000gpm pump on the tanker itself, and you have a stand alone water supply unit, then you can use the road tractor to move the tanker, or other assets (decon rigs, collapse rigs, equipment trailer, etc.) http://www.fl-dof.com/wildfire/equipment/water_tanks.html

got 0 on my name as well, guess its not very common spelling

if its in my own personal vehicle, and i dont have any right to it or access to it, then it's going to get removed in short order, public safety vehicles on the other hand, its probbaly not a bad idea, as we are held to a higher standard then the average citizen, maybe we need a reminder of that on occasion

all of our trucks are commerical chassis, so they still have keyed ignitions, and few of the forestry stations actually have garages, so all of our units are stored outside, though at the end of the day we pull the keys and lock the doors, the keys are kept inside the ranger station (which is also locked overnight)

I used to work as a tow truck operator while I was still a member of my hometown FD generally we tow truck companies) were called out by the PD for MVA's etc, only occasionally did we get a call direct from the FD to tow a vehicle, and I never got called out to assist in an extrication(stabilzation, etc) usually just standing by while everything else was done, photos and measurements taken, and then i would hook up (sometimes with thier assistance) and tow it whereever they requested (impound, our storage lot, garage (mechanical hazard)

i can understand if they wanted them to cut grass at the station(s) while on duty, station maintenace and upkeep is part of our job (the little stuff anyways)but maintaining parks, etc is just silly, how much would it cost to hire a bunch of high school kids for the summer to do that sort of thing?, it was seen as an entry to the parks dept/DPW. I can understand doing hydrant inspections as part of the FF's job as well (i did this when i worked for the water dept. as a summer temp). there just isnt time for this stuff when you are also traiing, working out, maintaining the apparatus, cleaning the station etc. This is a good time for the department to get out and show the city and the mayor what they actually do all day while on duty, and break the stereotype of "lazy firemen just sitting around all day playing cards, etc"

it isn't just a county requirement here in Florida, it's a State requirement, when i went through the application process for Division of Forestry (all 5 times) i had to sign an affidavit that I had not used tobacco for at least one year, same thing for when i've applied to several departments both career and volunteer down here. And when I applied in Massachusetts for diffeent departments, it is also a state law that you must be a non tobacco user any time after 1987

how about a recommendation for a decent didgital camera? Im planning on getting one and carrying it with me, so i can get shots of rigs and fires as i go, I do prefer the Canon name

here's a few more i took, hopefully i'll have some more pics of all different brush/forestry trucks as well as other departments, soon as i start on friday

how about some specifics here, where are you going to use it? will it be trailered, or in a slip?, is it for fishing or skiing, family, or friends?, inshore on lakes or rivers?, offshore? inboard or outboard engine? need some more info, many manufacturers have boats that would meet your needs, just decide what you want to do with the boat, then work from there

DARWIN nods approvingly

Here's one of Florida Division Of Forestry's Brush Engines, I believe it's 500/500/25 A foam , custom built by Division shops, they also have smaller Type 6 engines (I dont have a pic as of yet) as well as transports with dozers and line plows (pics coming soon)

nice looking rigs, any idea what/how they are used?

you might also consider putting together a list of contractors in your town(district) that have such equipment (or any other equipment) in an emergency or disaster, knowing who you can call for heavy equipment or dump truck or material for shoring, etc, some might help out you also might consider that if you are tied up with many such pummpouts, referring the "problem" people to a contractor who can help out might solve the problem in the future (if they half to pay for the service) In my old department, unless it was some kind of emergency, storm pumpout we charged for the service, the same for pumping out/refilling swimming pools the idea being, the people ought to take care of minor problems themselves, thus freeing the Department to handle emergencies

looks like this would be a good concept for a Rescue pumper, all your pump equipment in one space, more body space for your heavy rescue gear, doesnt sound like a setup that you would use the pump much

has anyone else ever taken the combat challenge as a physical agility test for a hiring list? on Cape Cod (Barnstable County) the Chief's Association used the basic test for their hiring list for career and POC departments, any time under 5 minutes was considered acceptable, and it was considered a test of agility, not best time = better score

to get a surplus military vehicle such as am M35 (2 1/2 ton truck) check with the Federal Excess Property Program (FEPP) your state department of Forestry or agriculture (and the national guard) should be able to help you get trucks like thses, along with all sorts of other equipment. generally for free, it just has to be kept in service with your department, and after such time as you no longer need it, you return it to them (issuing agency) In Mass. and here in Florida, we use those surplus 6x6 for brush trucks (go check out Capecodfd.com for his special on brush trucks)

sounds good, maybe we should all post some of our favorite firehouse recipes for all to share and tryt

Cape as I am originally from Cape Cod, MA Jake is the New England term for a firefighter 72 is my birth year

the 811 was implemented here in Florida too, good that there is an easy to remeber universl number for that