Pound Ridge New Heavy Rescue Coming Soon

[x635 4,066]

Word is Pound Ridge has a heavy rescue out to bid, with specs written by East-West and SVI being the preffered manufacturer.

This came as a suprise to me.....EW has written specs for their engines before, and they've both been Gowans Knight. GK builds a great product, and I wonder why SVI would be preffered? I hope I'm wrong and GK bids on it and wins.

Also, how big is this rescue going to be, and where in Pound Ridge's bays could they house it? If it's the current bay that houses the midi pumper rescue, then it would be a smaller rescue.......

[grumpyff 1,159]

It depends on what was put in the specs. I know for Patterson's rescue (also an SVI, written by East West) we had a delivery deadline that Gowans Knight could not meet.

[x635 4,066]

Unless they've changed recently, Gowans-Knight's quality and craftsmanship for the value is worth waiting for IMO. Plus, they are right in northwestern Connecticut, so getting manufacturer direct service is a big plus.

Is Patterson or Pound Ridge in a situation where there current rescues aren't serving their purpose? Of course they need replacement for various reasons, but couldn't the current trucks handle it for a few more months?

Don't get me wrong, SVI, 4 Guys, etc builds an excellent rescue, as do many other manufacturers. I know East-West spec'd Pound Ridge's Gowans Knight engines in the past, and now they are spec'ing two SVI rescues for two different departments. And a rescue is a lot easier and quicker to build than an engine.

I know when Hartsdale was looking for an engine, Gowans Knight was favored at one point. But they missed sales meetings that were scheduled and they didn't bid because they had too much work and too few employees at the time. Hartsdale ultimately went with 4-Guys, which also produces incredible custom craftsmanship. Gowans Knight is currently building an Engine and Rescue for the City Of Waterbury, maybe that has something to do with it?

Also, anyone from Pound Ridge to elaborate on the size and where it will be housed?

[IzzyEng4 427]

You have to remember the GK is a very small builder and refurbisher of apparatus with a total of around 30 trucks a year (rough guess folks). Also they have a huge repair facility which practically half of the departments in western CT contract them to maintain their trucks or do pump testing and also purchase other products they deal with. So yes that could be the reason why they might have not bid on a truck in Pound Ridge. Also it might have to do with what PRFD wanted for a rescue and GK might not have been able to provide that design.

This is the same reason why I tend to believe that GK didn't try to solicit our apparatus committee at the volly house when we planed our current rescue-pumper. I would have love them to submit a bid and win it, but I think they had too much work at the time.

[Bnechis 3,961]

And a rescue is a lot easier and quicker to build than an engine.

Depends on the rescue, but in my experience rescues are much harder to "get right"

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

Depends on the rescue, but in my experience rescues are much harder to "get right"

I have to agree with Barry, I wrote the spec's for Rescue 40 PCFD and it was far more detailed then a engine.

[x635 4,066]

Depends on the rescue, but in my experience rescues are much harder to "get right"

I meant more in the terms of construction and maintainence of an engine, there's a lot more to fabricate, install, calibrate, etc. Like the pump, tank, pump valves and throws, gauges, and now electronic throtle controls and transmissions, etc. Most typically, a rescue is easier to fabricate but on the flip side, equipment, such as SCBA compressors, body design, etc can add to the complicated nature of the rescue. I just meant that's it's far more straightfoward to fabricate and mount a rescue body on a chasis then an engine. Plus, it's easier to make changes on where you're going to put things on a rescue during the final stages then it is an engine.

Izzy, I know Gowans Knight is busy, and has had a tough time finding qualified welders and mechanics in recent years. It's none of my business, and I don't know much about theirs, but I'm sure that they could expand just a little more without losing quality. They build a great product, and I like to see local builders flourish-they could stay small, but with a little investment........ Has their quality gone down in recent years, or customer service??

SVI is one of the leaders in building rescue trucks, but is begining to diversify, recently building a pumper for Maui (HI).

Who is the local SVI dealer anyways?

[Reliance 29]

I meant more in the terms of construction and maintainence of an engine, there's a lot more to fabricate, install, calibrate, etc. Like the pump, tank, pump valves and throws, gauges, and now electronic throtle controls and transmissions, etc. Most typically, a rescue is easier to fabricate but on the flip side, equipment, such as SCBA compressors, body design, etc can add to the complicated nature of the rescue. I just meant that's it's far more straightfoward to fabricate and mount a rescue body on a chasis then an engine. Plus, it's easier to make changes on where you're going to put things on a rescue during the final stages then it is an engine.

Izzy, I know Gowans Knight is busy, and has had a tough time finding qualified welders and mechanics in recent years. It's none of my business, and I don't know much about theirs, but I'm sure that they could expand just a little more without losing quality. They build a great product, and I like to see local builders flourish-they could stay small, but with a little investment........ Has their quality gone down in recent years, or customer service??

SVI is one of the leaders in building rescue trucks, but is begining to diversify, recently building a pumper for Maui (HI).

Who is the local SVI dealer anyways?

Seth:

It almost looks like:

New England Fire Equipment & Apparatus

Contact: Long Island

Jim Feehan

New England Fire Equipment & Apparatus

10 Stillman Road

North Haven, CT 06473

Phone: 203-239-5678

FAX: 203-234-7398

Email: nefea@aol.com

Website: http://www.nefea.com

According to the map.

[IzzyEng4 427]

New England Fire Equipment and Apparatus out of North Haven is the SVI / Smeal dealer for New England and Western New York. We have a Smeal pumper.

Seth, GK's quality has not gone down at all and they get a lot of work. Your not the only one that wishes they would expand ther facilities but who knows, maybe they will or they might just be happy with being a regional builder.

[grumpyff 1,159]

I think if we waited for GK it would have been at least 6 months to a year wait to start construction.

[TL2L31 8]

Seth, New England Fire is also the local Smeal dealer.

[TCD0415 26]

I think if we waited for GK it would have been at least 6 months to a year wait to start construction.

We built the Spec to be generic enough that anyone could put a bid on it so its not like it was tailored to any specific builder. Gowens did come to one of our "Pre-Bid" meetings but in the end opted not to put a bid on it. We wanted a 365 day turn around and as Grumpy said, they were just too busy with their current workload to commit to that. We went to SVI for our Pre-Con meetings and I will say that we were all very impressed with the quality of their workmanship and have no reservations on deciding to go with them.

[x635 4,066]

NEFEA is a good dealer as well. I think SVI is a great builder, it's just that I know several comittees who've wanted Gowans-Knight, yet they weren't able to.

SVI is an awesome rescue builder- that's their primary business. 6 months-1 year to wait for the start of construction is ridiculous. However, sometimes it can take a while to get a Spartan chasis delivered to the manufactur, and sometimes Spartan waits on Allison transmissions and whatever engine manufacturer, which sometimes can delay production of the chasis itself. Larger builders usually are higher priority for the chasis companies, especially SVI and Crimson, which Spartan owns.