New Haven - West Battalion HQ

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Got a real camera finally, Canon Rebel T3 (refurbished), so no more point and shoot for me. I've been playing around with the settings and features, so I took a ride out with a friend to Ellsworth Ave in New Haven, home of the West Battalion.

Car 34 (West Battalion Chief) - 2012 Ford F-350

Squad Company 2 - 2011 Pierce Arrow XT Rescue Pumper

Messing around with angles, tight fit so I wasn't able to get everything I wanted in the shot.

Used a "cheater" HDR editing software for this one, just playing around with different stuff. Emergency 2 is no longer at this station, they're at Howard Avenue with E11 and T2. Has been for years they just never updated the sign. Engine 9 was out while I was there.

Any advice or tips would be welcome, I'm new to the hobby.

Edited July 20, 2013 by SageVigiles

[sfrd18 360]

Awesome shots there Alex! Keep up the great work!

[IzzyEng4 427]

There was talk years ago when Squad 2 was organized to replace the Emergency 2 sign with Squad instead. Money I assume was the big factor. I remember years ago Whitney Ave station had "Engine 14" and "Truck 6" still on it though both units had been disbanded for quite some time.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

There was talk years ago when Squad 2 was organized to replace the Emergency 2 sign with Squad instead. Money I assume was the big factor. I remember years ago Whitney Ave station had "Engine 14" and "Truck 6" still on it though both units had been disbanded for quite some time.

Dixwell Station still has "Rescue" and "Engine 3" on the outside of my station as well. Not sure if that meant Emergency 3 or 4 or if it meant one of the old Tactical Units, the units that came before the Squad Companies.

I'm sure I'll have shots of that one soon too.

Edited July 21, 2013 by SageVigiles

[peterose313 345]

Got a real camera finally, Canon Rebel T3 (refurbished), so no more point and shoot for me. I've been playing around with the settings and features, so I took a ride out with a friend to Ellsworth Ave in New Haven, home of the West Battalion.

Car 34 (West Battalion Chief) - 2012 Ford F-350

IMG_0137.JPG

Squad Company 2 - 2011 Pierce Arrow XT Rescue Pumper

Squad2_edited-1.jpg

Messing around with angles, tight fit so I wasn't able to get everything I wanted in the shot.

Squad2Car34.jpg

Used a "cheater" HDR editing software for this one, just playing around with different stuff. Emergency 2 is no longer at this station, they're at Howard Avenue with E11 and T2. Has been for years they just never updated the sign. Engine 9 was out while I was there.

WestBattHQSign.jpg

Any advice or tips would be welcome, I'm new to the hobby.

If you need help with anything, I'm a Canon shooter so feel free to pm me with any questions or whatever. My 2 major tips are to take the wheel off that little green square and turn it to "M". Learn to control your camera and tell it what to do instead of it telling you what to do. If you have photoshop or editing software, change your settings from JPEG to RAW. You'll get MUCH more detail and the tones coming out of the camera will be much more pleasant than JPEG.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Thanks Pete! I was playing with manual settings this weekend at the Silver City Fire Fest in Meriden, I'll have some shots of that.

Good tip on the RAW format, the files looked way better before I converted from psd to jpeg

[x4093k 654]

Very nice shots... especially since it's one of your first times using the camera. I got my Rebel about 2 years ago and it has amazed me because of the potential it has in creating a really nice shot. Best of luck with it, you're off to a very good start.

[x635 4,066]

Very cool shot! Looking forward to seeing more shots from your new camera in the future!

[IzzyEng4 427]

Alex, Engine 3 and the Rescue were two different units. Dixwell / Goffe was erected in the early 1970s I want to say to replace Engine 3's quarters on Elm And York Street (was A pizza place at one time across the street from the church and an original NHFD firehouse from 1862) and old Engine 6 / Truck 4 up on upper Dixwell. The "Rescue" was to replace the original "Emergency Unit" based out of Engine 12 on Crown Street by what I was told.

[sfrd18 360]

Here's a shot of the "Rescue" running out of Dixwell. I believe it was a reincarnation of the first "Emergency Unit" out of Engine 12's quarters, prior to the EMS units that followed. Prior to Dixwell being built, Engine 6 and Truck 4 were quartered at 384 Dixwell Ave. together. Engine 3 was quartered at 338 Elm St.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

I know that Engine 3 and the "Rescue" were different companies, but you guys answered my question, the "Rescue" was essentially the same as the Emergency Unit, as opposed to the Tactical Units (that later became the Squads.)

[sfrd18 360]

Another thing about Dixwell station was for a while, Truck 4, Truck 2A(Reserve), and Truck 4A(Reserve), all TDA's, were all housed there. Three tillers in the same firehouse at the same time was really something to see. Wish I had a picture of that.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Another thing about Dixwell station was for a while, Truck 4, Truck 2A(Reserve), and Truck 4A(Reserve), all TDA's, were all housed there. Three tillers in the same firehouse at the same time was really something to see. Wish I had a picture of that.

I live down the street from there, but they took one of them down to the shops to be disassembled a few months before I got the camera.

Now its E6, T2, one of the spare tillers (can't remember if its 2A or 4A), the spare Fire Investigation Unit and the Police Department's Bureau of Identification van.

[sfrd18 360]

I just had a live burn a month or so ago at New Haven and the tractor for either Truck 2A or 4A was sitting next to the shops. Do you know if there's still an apparatus boneyard behind Dixwell?

[SageVigiles 1,194]

There's a couple pieces back there, though I'm not sure what kind of shape they're in. The "Rescue" you posted a picture of is back there as well as one of the old Tactical Units and an old engine or two. I'm going to see if any of my buddies work down there so I could take a ride and snap a few shots.

[IzzyEng4 427]

The "Rescue" eventually became sort of a "field com unit" at one point so I was told and was station at The Hill Station (Engine 11 & Truck 2 at the time). It was moved out of there just after the current Emergency 2 (medic unit) was placed into service there. Also at the same time, NHFD had a tractor trailer tanker unit at The Hill as well, that was disposed of during the late 1990s.

The 1988 Seagrave TDA (which was Truck 2 I believe) is being disposed of, Truck 4A (old Truck 4) is remaining in service as the spare. Also Truck 3's old ALF and the old rear mount Seagrave are still at the "graveyard" awaiting disposal, their aerial devices have been cut so they cannot be used.

New Truck 1, a Sutphen SHP100, has been delivered which will replace the current Truck 1 Sutphen, which will be traded in or sold off. The current spare Truck 1A will remain the spare.

Engines 5, 6 & 11 I believe are the next engines to be replaced which are in the bidding process. Engine 5 will not be a quint like their current Sutphen rig, but will still be a foam unit for the tank farm. It does not sound like it will have any elevated master stream device on that rig.

As for the Emergency units, its a storied history. First off, New Haven FD members, EMS units, area dispatchers and buffs have called the present day Emergency units "E" followed by its number (Engines are Engines). The first Emergency unit was an ambulance type rig that carried specialized equipment and was operated by Engine 12 out of the old Crown Street station (now a restaurant / bar). It continued to operate as a "rescue type unit" and eventually evolved into a combined unit with Engine 12.

The next incarnation of the Emergency units were two step vans for Emergency 1 & 2 during the 1960s / 70s staffed with EMTs. By the 1980s there were 4 emergency units, E-1 (The Hill), E-2 (Ellsworth Station) & E-4 (Whitney Ave) were BLS response units and E-3 (HQ - Grand Ave) was the paramedic unit. Now all of the units were non transporting units, just first responder units though E-3 had transport capabilities if they had to and they would transport any FD member if injured. By 2000 the city disbanded the BLS units and the Engines became the BLS first responder units with E-3 remaining a medic unit remaining out of HQ. About a year or 2 later, it was realized they needed two medic units, E-3 was re-designated E-1 and moved to Woodward Ave (Engine 5) in The Annex and E-2 was re-organized as a medic unit and station at The Hill Station, both beign transport capable units. There was talk throughout the years of re-organizing E-3 and E-4 as medic units. The "E-units" and the Tactical Units were separate entities always.

The Tactical Units replaced what the original Emergency / Engine 12 unit was (and Rescue). The operated a GMC Topkick / Ranger walk in rescue body rig. Engine 7 which shared quarters at Fair Haven station with Engine 10 and Truck 3 became Tac 2 and Tac 1 was at Dixwell / Goffe if I remember correctly and was formed out of either Engine 12 or Engine 14 (14's was with Engine 8 on Whitney Avenue which also had Truck 6 until it was disbanded in the 1980s).

And so by the 1990s, Tac 2 was disbanded and Tac 1 was moved into Engine 8 on Whitney Avenue, thus becoming the extrication unit for the city along with Truck 2 (which covered 95 and the Hill area). In the late 1990s Engine 8 received the first Pierce Lance rescue engine and Tac 1 pretty much became the HazMat unit, operating as a two piece company when necessary. The Rescue pumper still retained its first due area but would go citywide for extrication and rescue calls. The last incarnation of Tac 1 (an International rescue body rig which is now the MASK air unit) was the hazmat piece.

Around 2002, Squad 1 and Squad 2 were organized out of the way Engine 8 was set up as a rescue unit with the intentions of taking over where the old Tac units left off and also adding two much needed pumpers to the department roster (went from 10 engines to technically 12 engines). Also the Squads are the only rigs in New Haven staffed with an officer and 4 firefighters, the other engines and trucks are staffed with 1 and 3. Engine 8 once again became a straight pumper, Squad 1 took over Engine 8's rescue pumper and Squad 2 was issued Engine 6's old Pierce Arrow pumper which was modified by the shops (by Tony "the Truck Magician") becoming what was lovingly called the "Franken-Squad". Squad 1 remained at Engine 8 and took over the Hazmat rig and Squad 2 was placed into service at with Engine 9. Squad 1 received a new Pierce Lance rescue pumpers (one of the last Lance cab and chassis) around 2005 and Squad 2 got old Squad 1. About 2 or 3 years ago Squad 2 finally got its own new piece, exactly the same body as Squad 1's rig but on a Pierce Arrow XT cab and chassis, the original Pierce Lance rescue pumper is now the spare squad.

Also Alex, you should know who I mean by "Smiling CTMike". He has a lot of pictures of the New Haven rigs. Also Joe C. from EHFD has a lot of those pictures too. Al;so going to http://www.box22.org/ there are a lot of old pics of NHFD rigs through the years (even pictures of old Engine 1 and Engine 2). The only number not used by and engine in NH was "13".

Hopefully I got all the above right, I'm only going off memory and not through my books.

Edited July 26, 2013 by IzzyEng4

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Wow. Well done Izzy...

My only correction is that the Engines being replaced this year are 5, 9 and 11. The bids actually came out through the city purchasing system the other day. For some reason 6's is not going this year. 5 will be a 500 water/500 foam Engine, probably about the length of one of the squads I'd think. That leaves Engines 6 and 8 (and maybe 10) with Quantums, if I'm not mistaken. Everything else has been converted over.

The guys are already training on Truck 1, they've been down at the school for the last few days.

Tony is DEFINITELY a magician. For those not familiar with NHFD, the department needed a new Fire Investigation Unit. State Police wrecked one of their Major Crimes trucks, so NHFD took the box off of that and mounted it on a brand new E-Series cab/chassis. Looks brand new. He's also the creative mind behind the original Frankensquad, as Izzy mentioned, as well as the Fox 1 refurb I posted a few months ago. Rumor has it he's cooking something up with the old T2A, but everyone's quite tight lipped about it. I can't wait to see what comes out of that shop next.

Edited July 26, 2013 by SageVigiles

[sfrd18 360]

Wow, fantastic job with all that info and history, Izzy! As far as I know, the rearmount Seagrave and the mid-mount ALF you mentioned are still at the graveyard in the parking lot at the New Haven Fire Academy, along with a former Emergency Unit on the training grounds.

I heard somewhere something about a possible crane coming out of the Seagrave tractor of the former Truck 2A, similar to Norwalk's. We shall see.