CFD Apparatus status discussion (Non-Radio Information)

[255-Jacobs]

I think more Tenders are needed in Calgary. Yeah we're a big city but it gets hot, dry, and there's a bunch of grasslands and parks with no hydrants at all.

Both Tenders are incredibly far from each other and require a long haul to the opposite side of the city.

I think a Tender per quadrant is needed and then some. A Tender in the NE at either 22 or 32 to head out to the outskirts of the NE. (Works great for 22 since they're really busy and a 3rd unit is not bad at all)

A Tender in the deep south at 26 or 37 wouldn't be bad either. Both have great access to HWY 201 and can also head into Fish Creek if it ever lights up again. 21 and 25 are pretty good where they are as is, 21 can get onto 1A to cover the West and Foothills has some areas with no hydrants and good access to East HWY 201.

A Tender or even a Bush Buggy at 40 wouldn't be bad either. 40 has the most grasslands in its district and they need a secondary as they run too many calls for a single engine. (Like Engine 18)

Those are my thoughts on where Tenders should go in the Calgary. I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[Calgary_Fire_Filmer]

Neat read! Definitely see some similarities between the municipalities. Even sending fully staffed BBs up when the "trifecta" hits is a step in the right direction.

My two cents is the biggest thing CFD can do is change their wildland response. Bush Buggies are bulky, lower and extremely heavy with their tanks. They're not really built for offroading in the state their in (Defeats the purpose) What we need are the lifted Bush Buggies (Like the ones pictured below) that can go anywhere, and are lighter. We also need different style tenders. As opposed to the larger ones full of gear in their lockers, I think it would be beneficial to just have a truck that simply carries water.

Again, thats only my opinion, and I'm sure I'm missing some operational and logistical pieces, but thats my take.
https://www.instagram.com/calgary_fire_filmer/p/DEltuqCJu7E/
https://www.instagram.com/calgary_fire_filmer/p/DEltuqCJu7E/

 

[ENGINE_4]

4 Tenders, 1 in each quadrant for sure! 21/34 for the NW, 22/32 for NE, 25 where it is, 37 looks good in the SW. I would like to see at least 2 Bush Buggies added to the fleet and like Calgary_Fire_Filmer said, a change in the wildland response/design of the trucks.
One day CFD will be called upon to assist Rockyview, Chestermere, Foothills fire or even further out departments to assist in wildland response (including tender shuttling and structure protection) and CFD is going to be stretched thinner then ever, even with the extra staffing

 

[Ghostpolice24]

A Tender would probably fit well in 32, that's where they had that 4th one staffed at during the water main problems we had last year. They'd also do well if fully staffed with even a 2 man crew during peak rush hour at 22 if necessary. Since 22 is always busy and the area just works in my opinion.

37 obviously used to have the Sterling but also another Tender before, so that'd be a nice spot for it in the SW quadrant. 25 is fine where it is due to industrial area and near flat grass lands somewhat. 21 is fine where it is, but it would look kinda cool having 4 big rigs stacked in 34... But that's more of a "cool thing" rather than a need.
ALSO, 22 would be more beneficial than 32 in some ways because it's also closer to the NE industrial areas and commerical areas, so they'd find more use sometimes than just grass/wildland fires.
I think if it were a possibility for Bush Buggies/Tenders, they should be the same style of chassis/build like the current Tenders we have but obviously newer and with 4 seats, or if we were able to for Bush Buggies, have 2 small single axle tenders that'd serve as a Wildlands rig for easier off road access.
(I apologize if this makes 0 sense, I had a late night lol)

 

[255-Jacobs]

Evening Chaps. This week while driving up 4th Street I spotted a sight we've been waiting to see for a long time. The Volterra is now officially at Station 7. It's not in service yet last I checked and Engine 7 runs a spare. We can expect it to go into service some time next week and we'll probably see a news report about it.

I'm assuming since Engine 7 is running a spare, it's main might have been moved elsewhere to replace another Engine. The last Engine that needs replacing is Engine 43 so they might be running Engine 7s main. Can't wait to see this thing responding, it will be a sight to behold.

 

[JABoomer]

So I've just come to realize that all these "zero emission" fire truck model from the various manufacturers are actually hybrids that still have a diesel engine in them. That configuration makes a lot of sense for the application: short drive times followed by long idling periods. I hope Eddison Motors builds the chassis for one eventually.

However, as someone recently pointed out to me, your making a more complicated/expensive vehicle that is more prone to be out of service in an effort to reduce emissions .. when the purpose of the vehicle is to put out a fire that is releasing more emissions than the entire fire fleet does in a year...does it make sense?

 

[ENGINE_4]

I'm assuming since Engine 7 is running a spare, it's main might have been moved elsewhere to replace another Engine. The last Engine that needs replacing is Engine 43 so they might be running Engine 7s main. Can't wait to see this thing responding, it will be a sight to behold.

Cool technology! But its new and in general it seems like a lot of fire services don't like new things or changes, but we'll see how it plays out for Engine 7 and how they work it at fires. Nice to see it finally at 7 and almost in service though!!

I think we'll be seeing Engine 7's main E3817 or a spare Engine still at Station 7 for awhile. I haven't heard great things or a lot of confidence in this electric Engine going into service from CFD. If you look at the electric/hybrid Engines that are in service in North America, a lot of them have a second (or there old primary) Engine at the station ready to go into service if the electric Engine goes down

The second alarm fire on Friday on 36th street in the N.E; Ladders 12,1 and Rescue 23 all had 4 ff's on board meaning an extra 6 ff's were on scene for the working fire - the second alarm was transmitted 40ish minutes into the fire? Engines 322 and 301 were called in, sounds like Ladder 6 was called off. My point is, its great to see the extra staffing coming in and working! I think we could start to see a few less second alarms in the future, its nice to see these extra hands making the work a little lighter and keeping other units available

 

[255-Jacobs]

I was listening to that fire on the scanner. That 2nd alarm was called in for manpower since crews found more fire inside the roof of the strip mall. There was some really good staffing that night. More crews mean assignments can be handed out quicker in the future and there are bigger teams. Engine crews can now focus on Engine work now instead of bouncing around to do Truck work.

 

[ENGINE_4]

A very interesting/kind of sad read about the state of fire apparatus manufacturing these days. Yes this does affect CFD in terms of getting spare parts and wait times for new trucks Did a Private Equity Fire Truck Roll-Up Worsen the L.A. Fires?

 

[255-Jacobs]

It does affect the CFD unfortunatly. Every manufacturer has issues getting trucks out. It often comes back to increasing costs and lack of mechanics. Pierce MFG for example has such a massive backlog of orders that trucks that were ordered in 2023 are set to arrive in 2026. Calgary is facing the same issue.

The 2 Pumper Tankers are still 27 months away from reaching here. That's more then 2 years. I'd imagine this is why the CFD has started leasing trucks with a buy out option. The new Ladders are excepted to arrive later this year and some more in 2025. Those were ordered in 2023.

But how did we get Ladder 1 and the Towers so quickly? Pierce simply wanted to impress the department. Now that the impressions are out of the way the department finds itself waiting forever for new trucks to arrive.

I just hope that the 2011 Quints can hold out for a few more years. It's been proven time and time again that Ladders can only take so much before finally giving out. For 14 year old trucks however they don't seem to be doing bad. But anything can change.

Stay tuned for Summer 2025 to see if the Quints suffer a full mechanical failure!

 

[Calgary_Fire_Filmer]

Another update, the Volterra is officially in service has gotten a couple runs out of 7 already.

 

[ENGINE_4]

Are the new Tenders still 27 months away!?! That is terrible to say the least. I hope CFD holds on to all of the Ladders that they currently have after the new ones come in. I bet we’ll see those 45 new Engines coming in 2030 at this rate

Even if the US government stepped in and made REV and Oshkosh dissolve a bit or expand manufacturing to bring wait times down it would still take a few years to fix

 

[Calgary_Fire_Filmer]

Brand new rig alert. Battalion 16 just got a new set of wheels. 2025 Ford Explorer. Has just under 200km on it, so it is Brand New. Not sure the light or siren package though. Looks a little plain, but not too shabby.

 

[255-Jacobs]

Evening Chaps! While conducting my monthly scroll through the fire wiki something caught my attention. Listed under Station 7 is: Engine 7, FRP 7, ATV 7, and Engine 307. In the wiki it shows it as Engine 7's 2017 Smeal Pumper. Does anyone know if that Smeal is still at 7 and has been infact renumbered to Engine 307? Or is someone updating the wiki based on assumptions?

 

[ENGINE_4]

I don't know anything about Engine 307, but it wouldn't surprise me if E3817 is still at Station 7 and operating as 307. Would be nice to see Engine 43 and "307" switch up though

Is 16 Hazmat Recovery being staffed fulltime now? they were primary while Engine 16 attended a MVC on Deerfoot today. Seems like staffing on Ladders/Rescues/5th FF on Engines and staffing on units like 25 Tender and 16 HMR varies by day and platoon. I know a lot of different things effect day to day staffing but I find it quite interesting how it seems to change often

Also I don't know how useful 16 HMR would be first in at a scene other then maybe a medical? I don't mean to bash the unit, it's just that it has nothing on it. It wasn't designed to be a first in unit or hold any real tools other then hazmat support equipment. Maybe they have medical bags and a few hand tools on board?

Another thought about 16 HMR, there could be 2-3 ff's at 16 on a permeant day shift kind of deal and/or attached to Hazmat operations that staff 3 different trucks - Panel, Pod and HMR trucks. Both Panel and Pod showed up recently to a 3rd Alarm fire in the SE

 

[Calgary_Fire_Filmer]

Staffing and apparatus running orders are really interesting right now, as there seems to be a lot of change. Staffing varies from platoon to platoon, and from what I've heard, different crews have different takes on where the extra ffs should go. I know on Alpha, they perfer staffing the HMR with two ff's full time. Maybe that's so they can jump to the Pods if needed. Maybe it's to keep a staffed secondary in service at 16.

Other highlighted trucks are 2 High Rise and Hazmat 4, where they can see added firefighters shift by shift (4 on HR, 3 on HM) I know halls like 12 have 14 firefighters in them right now. (5-E12, 5-E312, 4-L12) So it all depends.

It has also changed and is changed by the running orders right now. Recently I've heard HR2 being dispatched to alarms calls well out of district (41,30,14) and Air Light 4 getting sucked downtown on bells too. The FRPs are now running on all Bravo level or higher fuel spills, and are also tagged on all CO calls and Gas Leaks that send more then a single engine. There's another anomaly at 25 now too, where some days TW and TE25 are dual-staffed. Even on some 69 cards, the crews have taken all three rigs together in the response.

In regards to HMR16, it is not a great truck to cover. No water on board, no lines even. No irons or other hand tools (unless you call the bung wrench a hand tool) It's boxy and slower, and carries no equipment for anything over a medical call. (It does have a med bag and SCBA cylinders for the crew) It was hard figuring out who took what to that SE fire, but I have a suspicion that the HMR guy jumped on the POD truck to respond to the chemical fire. P16 is always staffed, so it wouldn't have needed anyone, but there is always a staffing gap at 16 if they get the call to dispatch the hazmat or command team. Be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Ghostpolice24]

With all this staffing stuff, is it possible we might see the Mobile Command truck potentially attached to 3 alarm or higher fires moving forward? It's one of those trucks I feel get left out on a lot, and given as you've said, Pod trucks and the HMR seem to be more active, I find myself wondering if we'll see Mobile Command 16 on any big fires.