NEW Pierce Chassis-Dash CF

[Portsmouth OH Fire Buff 8]

Just announced live from FDIC, Pierce has introduced a new chassis to their already impressive fleet, the Dash CF. Here is their Facebook page which is being updated right now from FDIC. Here are the first pictures of the new chassis from Finley Fire Equipment.

Edited March 24, 2011 by Portsmouth OH Fire Buff

[x635 4,066]

AWESOME find! Is this the one they they've been touting in magazine as "Prepare For The Fight"?

Glad to see the Dash is back! Kind of reminds me of the Seagrave Lo-Pro. And "CF" kind of reminds me of Mack.

Also, Pierce has done a great job with reaching out via social media lately.

[Portsmouth OH Fire Buff 8]

x635, Yes this is it! They also have a few videos on their YouTube. Check out Pierce's facebook, they have a really nice close up chot of the cab.

[vodoly 535]

Looks great who's left to fight lol

[Portsmouth OH Fire Buff 8]

Pierce uploaded some pictures of the Dash CF onto their Flickr.

[x152 179]

Pierce is clearly showing their market dominance and ability to produce new chassis with the users in mind. I really like the styling, but if you check out the interior, the position of the motor confines divides the rear users (just like the Mack CF). Without seeing it first-hand, it looks somewhat isolating in such a large cab.

Many Departments, including mine, are trying to have the crew members try and always exit the curbside crew cab door whenever possible. The engine cowls placements appears to prevent this from happening. Something that many Departments may have a problem with? For all of the focus on safety, Pierce may have missed the mark, if one crew member always has to step-off into oncoming traffic. Not that the driver and many of us have been doing this for years, but why not make certain the design allows for crossover of both crew members?

Wondering if anyone at FDIC can comment or verify if the rear crew area is a big deal or not?

[Portsmouth OH Fire Buff 8]

Pierce is clearly showing their market dominance and ability to produce new chassis with the users in mind. I really like the styling, but if you check out the interior, the position of the motor confines divides the rear users (just like the Mack CF). Without seeing it first-hand, it looks somewhat isolating in such a large cab.

Many Departments, including mine, are trying to have the crew members try and always exit the curbside crew cab door whenever possible. The engine cowls placements appears to prevent this from happening. Something that many Departments may have a problem with? For all of the focus on safety, Pierce may have missed the mark, if one crew member always has to step-off into oncoming traffic. Not that the driver and many of us have been doing this for years, but why not make certain the design allows for crossover of both crew members?

Wondering if anyone at FDIC can comment or verify if the rear crew area is a big deal or not?

This is the best view of the interior I found.

[x635 4,066]

Many Departments, including mine, are trying to have the crew members try and always exit the curbside crew cab door whenever possible. The engine cowls placements appears to prevent this from happening. Wondering if anyone at FDIC can comment or verify if the rear crew area is a big deal or not?

I know a couple departments around here are already ready to order it. The rear cowl doesn't prevent firefighters from exiting either side. From the people I spoke with at FDIC, it's a REALLY nice chasis with a ton of room and convienent features. It's actually much more accomodating to crews, then let's say, an HME "Ahrens Fox".

Crew area:

http://www.facebook.com/Pierce?ref=ts#!/photo.php?fbid=10150439316795527&set=pu.10150114697040527&theater

[osufire90 18]

It seems like a nice chassis...i'm not sure if I like the (optional) no grill look though.

[MyFyrtrks 15]

I'm sure they have engineered it well (almost aka puc pump problems) but how in heck are they going to cool it? I don"t see any side intakes and if they have a no grill front then what? No oval bashing just a question.

[chris498 31]

AMEN!

[Portsmouth OH Fire Buff 8]

I know a couple departments around here are already ready to order it. The rear cowl doesn't prevent firefighters from exiting either side. From the people I spoke with at FDIC, it's a REALLY nice chassis with a ton of room and convenient features. It's actually much more accommodating to crews, then let's say, an HME "Ahrens Fox".

Crew area:

http://www.facebook.com/Pierce?ref=ts#!/photo.php?fbid=10150439316795527&set=Pu.10150114697040527&theater

Seth,

I'm not sure if you realized but that's the Captains seat looking towards the drivers seat, not the crew area. The crew area has the engine compartment going directly through it, from the video I posted it looked low enough to step over to get out on the opposite side but would be an inconvenience on firefighters. Another thing I noticed was the jump seats being close to the other seats across from it, from the video it looked like it would be a tight fit and there would be a enough leg room, but that's just what I thought from the video.

[Task Force 7 65]

I like it. I've always liked the Pierce Dash. As far as the rear seats, I've always preferred to ride backwards sitting behind the driver any way. Part of the reason is I'm 6'7" tall and the rear facing seat always had more leg room for me.

[x152 179]

It's actually much more accomodating to crews, then let's say, an HME "Ahrens Fox".

Crew area:

http://www.facebook.com/Pierce?ref=ts#!/photo.php?fbid=10150439316795527&set=pu.10150114697040527&theater

Yeah those HME folks are real innovators. I am sure they overwhelmed the crowd at the FDIC with some new piece of ingenuity.

[FFPCogs 863]

I just have to add the same $.02 here I posted on another site.

There's only one "CF" and it ain't a Pierce.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

I just have to add the same $.02 here I posted on another site.

There's only one "CF" and it ain't a Pierce.

amen to that brother. I don't know what all the fuss about this is, it looks exactly the same as all the other pierce rigs if you ask me.

[sfrd18 360]

I just have to add the same $.02 here I posted on another site.

There's only one "CF" and it ain't a Pierce.

Here, here! There is only one "CF" and it had a bulldog over the front grill.

[res6cue 67]

amen to that brother. I don't know what all the fuss about this is, it looks exactly the same as all the other pierce rigs if you ask me.

You must not look too closely at all the other Pierce rigs, then. The exterior skin might look similar to the old Dash (although any Pierce aficionado could point out many differences without much effort or eye strain), but the interior looks more like a 1982 vintage Arrow cab than anything Pierce or anyone else has produced in the last 20 odd years. Tell me, what was the last mainstream rig you saw designed with the motor in the crew cab area after the 1991 revision of NFPA 1901 which required fully enclosed cabs? Then again, you were barely out of the womb when that standard was passed and the apparatus world underwent a drastic change (leading to the demise of the original "CF" built by Mack), so you're automatically forgiven for having a somewhat myopic view of apparatus.

[IzzyEng4 427]

The first true cab-forward fire engine was built by American La France, the 700 Series in 1947. The concept was born out to the ALF JO/JOX series which was close to the cab-over-engine designs similar to current custom fire apparatus. Ahrens-Fox introduced their cab-forward design in the mid-1950s until Mack bough the rights to the design in 1957, re-designating it the "C". The Mack CF (next generation of the C) came out in 1967 / 1968.

The CF in Pierce means "Cab-Forward", the Mack CF designation comes the combination of the C model fire chassis and the F is from the Mack F model over the road truck which the new fire cab was based / taken from. That explanation folks in is every Mack book that I own. Look at an old F Model Mack then look at the CF cab driver's area, same design.

As time progressed and we went to enclosed cabs, the cab-forward design was still being used. Mack CFs, ALF Century's and Century 2000s, Seagrave cabs, Pierce, Sutphen and E-One (ect.) all enclosed their cabs. Then tilt-cab designs came out for easier engine maintenance access. Companies began offering Cab-forward tilting cabs (engine still mounted where the crew sits, E-One made a ton of these) and Cab-over full tilting and split tilting cabs (Engines located up front in the driver / officer section).

It's not a new concept, it was a forgotten one. The Pierce Dash was by far the most popular model back in the day by the company, better than the Lance. It had more room up front when they moved the engine up when it became a cab-over design. I don't know why manufactures went with putting the engines up front on custom cabs, they should have kept them in back. Pierce as the one that capitalized on that and introduced their ten-man cabs (why they heck do we need a ten-man cab for an aerial or pumper??????) when they moved the engine up. Hey it was great that the crew had more room but now you cramped up the driver and officer, especially with the bigger engines.

I'm glad the concept is coming back with moving the engine to the rear of the cab area where the crew sits. And the truck by no means looks to me like a Mack CF. It looks like a Pierce.

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

The first true cab-forward fire engine was built by American La France, the 700 Series in 1947. The concept was born out to the ALF JO/JOX series which was close to the cab-over-engine designs similar to current custom fire apparatus. Ahrens-Fox introduced their cab-forward design in the mid-1950s until Mack bough the rights to the design in 1957, re-designating it the "C". The Mack CF (next generation of the C) came out in 1967 / 1968.

The CF in Pierce means "Cab-Forward", the Mack CF designation comes the combination of the C model fire chassis and the F is from the Mack F model over the road truck which the new fire cab was based / taken from. That explanation folks in is every Mack book that I own. Look at an old F Model Mack then look at the CF cab driver's area, same design.

As time progressed and we went to enclosed cabs, the cab-forward design was still being used. Mack CFs, ALF Century's and Century 2000s, Seagrave cabs, Pierce, Sutphen and E-One (ect.) all enclosed their cabs. Then tilt-cab designs came out for easier engine maintenance access. Companies began offering Cab-forward tilting cabs (engine still mounted where the crew sits, E-One made a ton of these) and Cab-over full tilting and split tilting cabs (Engines located up front in the driver / officer section).

It's not a new concept, it was a forgotten one. The Pierce Dash was by far the most popular model back in the day by the company, better than the Lance. It had more room up front when they moved the engine up when it became a cab-over design. I don't know why manufactures went with putting the engines up front on custom cabs, they should have kept them in back. Pierce as the one that capitalized on that and introduced their ten-man cabs (why they heck do we need a ten-man cab for an aerial or pumper??????) when they moved the engine up. Hey it was great that the crew had more room but now you cramped up the driver and officer, especially with the bigger engines.

I'm glad the concept is coming back with moving the engine to the rear of the cab area where the crew sits. And the truck by no means looks to me like a Mack CF. It looks like a Pierce.

I agree with what Gabby Johnson said, Real Firefighter jiberes !

[IzzyEng4 427]

I agree with what Gabby Johnson said, Real Firefighter jiberes !

Right down to the orange roof on Howard Johnson's outhouse!!

[chris498 31]

I agree with what Gabby Johnson said, Real Firefighter jiberes !

Reverend!