Aerialscope trucks

[PDBuff3090 0]

Are the Aerialscope trucks coustom made for the FDNY and what are your opions on these trucks. I've heard some firefighters say bad things about these trucks, but they cant be that bad if the FDNY has over 60 units in sevice right?

[weaselff 6]

but they cant be that bad if the FDNY has over 60 units in sevice right?

[weaselff 6]

PDBuff I see you are in the 14-17 age group so i'll let you slide. FDNY doesn't buy equipment because its the best, FDNY buys equipment from the lowest bidder.

[FFPCogs 863]

In my experience Aerialscopes are the best tower ladder going.and serve that role better than any other. The design has been in service for many years with the FDNY and other dept.s with an overall excellent record. The stabilizer system , bucket layout and operating parameters are well designed with firefighting in an urban environment in mind but translate well to other demographics as well. Like with most things..you get what you pay for. If a department can afford an Aerialscope, and a tower ladder is what is needed it is money well spent. And I tend to agree, a basic design that for close to 40 years has had units continuously in service speaks for itself.

Cogs

[DCurtis 1]

These are some of the strongest aerials you can buy. I think they are built with a safety factor of like 5:1, most other tower ladders/ladder towers are much less. As far as a city environment is concerned, I think these are some of the best trucks for that environment.

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

PDBuff I see you are in the 14-17 age group so i'll let you slide. FDNY doesn't buy equipment because its the best, FDNY buys equipment from the lowest bidder.

Checked your profile, and I guess your right!

[ny10570 745]

A lot of people like to whine and complain about the apparent low quality of apparatus yet they offer no remedy other than to spend more money. Fact is a seagrave aerialscope is one of the most expensive trucks you're going to find and you get what you pay for. It has the strongest tip rating @ 1000 lbs while flowing water and is probably the most stable platform on the market. It has an extremely high safety record and as others have pointed out it has proven itself over the years.

[SKE#2HAHN 18]

You can't kill an Aerialscope...We got a 1973 75' still going strong. The Techs from UL are very impressed with the performance of our Tower each year during the ladder testing.

For about $600K, we can remount this on a single axle with new cab and chassis and a complete refurb from Seagrave.

http://www.exit109.com/~mikezac/department...allonhudson.jpg

[FFPCogs 863]

That reminds me of another point. How many Aeialscopes stared their life in busy FDNY Co.s and after their replacement STILL serve other Departments with a little refurbishment. You can get a serviceable Aerialscope in service out of the FDNY, and refurb it for about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the price of a new unit and still get 10-15 GOOD years out of it. While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, when it comes to tower ladders NOTHING beats the original.

Cogs

[Reliance 29]

That reminds me of another point. How many Aeialscopes stared their life in busy FDNY Co.s and after their replacement STILL serve other Departments with a little refurbishment. You can get a serviceable Aerialscope in service out of the FDNY, and refurb it for about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the price of a new unit and still get 10-15 GOOD years out of it. While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, when it comes to tower ladders NOTHING beats the original.

Cogs

Check out http://www.advantageapparatus.com/ Advantage Apparatus. They rebuild aerialscopes.

[vodoly 535]

I love the scopes Fort lee here in NJ Ran one as Truck 2 and replaced it with a huge LTI reamount tower Westwood and Wycoff both in Bergen County run 95 footers Westwood's mounted on a Spartan and the wycoff's one is on a Seagrave Jersey City Ran a Mack CF 75 footer that started out as truck 6 and later after a refurb went to tower ladder 4tosay this tower ladder did not see work is an understatement Oh they replaced the mack with a 95 foot scope mounted on a Simon Duplex chassis that was nothing but trouble for them from when they got it ladder tower 4 is their 75 foot ALF mid mount ladder 6 is now an E one stick

Edited September 20, 2008 by vodoly