My brother-in-law reminded me of something yesterday that may help you guys who are asking where all the new trucks are.
When a new station is approved, part of the approval is for the "capital" $ for the station - meaning the property, tangible things that will exist there, like the building, the big-ass diesel generator, etc. Part of the capital is the truck destined for that station. Current rules require that an apparatus that is earmarked as capital assets for a new station cannot be used for anything else, i.e. spare/replacement truck, etc., so until said station opens, that truck is kept in storage. That's why there's been a 33 "Engine" since 2004, but it hasn't been visible on the street yet. Until 33 Station opens, that truck is not supposed to be utilized.
I'm willing to bet you will see the same with 35 and 36 Pumps that ENGINE_4 just mentioned. 35 is only about 50% built - until the station is fully established and ready to go, 35 Pump will be kept under wraps. And 36, that's a tricky one. 36 Pump is indeed in service now, but 36 Station is yet to be built, around 2 Av x 8 St SW at the base of a massive office/residential tower. I don't know what that will do to the "rules".
The other trucks that have been/will be/should be ordered, i.e. replacement aerials/tankers/etc., could very well be on the production line at manufacturer xyz, but until they have a substantial part of the truck built, they rarely announce "Hey, we're building a truck for Calgary".
In other departments' news... Cochrane has received their aerial platform truck. It's a Rosenbauer/Metz aerial, which is a unique beast in this part of the world. They'll be at Redwood on Tuesday to play with it, and I'll be sure to get some pics.
When a new station is approved, part of the approval is for the "capital" $ for the station - meaning the property, tangible things that will exist there, like the building, the big-ass diesel generator, etc. Part of the capital is the truck destined for that station. Current rules require that an apparatus that is earmarked as capital assets for a new station cannot be used for anything else, i.e. spare/replacement truck, etc., so until said station opens, that truck is kept in storage. That's why there's been a 33 "Engine" since 2004, but it hasn't been visible on the street yet. Until 33 Station opens, that truck is not supposed to be utilized.
I'm willing to bet you will see the same with 35 and 36 Pumps that ENGINE_4 just mentioned. 35 is only about 50% built - until the station is fully established and ready to go, 35 Pump will be kept under wraps. And 36, that's a tricky one. 36 Pump is indeed in service now, but 36 Station is yet to be built, around 2 Av x 8 St SW at the base of a massive office/residential tower. I don't know what that will do to the "rules".
The other trucks that have been/will be/should be ordered, i.e. replacement aerials/tankers/etc., could very well be on the production line at manufacturer xyz, but until they have a substantial part of the truck built, they rarely announce "Hey, we're building a truck for Calgary".
In other departments' news... Cochrane has received their aerial platform truck. It's a Rosenbauer/Metz aerial, which is a unique beast in this part of the world. They'll be at Redwood on Tuesday to play with it, and I'll be sure to get some pics.
MrVelvet
Member
Jay,
Are 1 Engine and 36 Pump down for repair? There is a call outside my office tower in downtown and I noticed they were both using spare pumps.
Are you aware of the extent of the damage to 2 Pump from the accident it was involved in?
Edit: Same question with 2 Bronto - is it out of commission? And is 16 Aerial stationed at 2 to provide downtown coverage?
Are 1 Engine and 36 Pump down for repair? There is a call outside my office tower in downtown and I noticed they were both using spare pumps.
Are you aware of the extent of the damage to 2 Pump from the accident it was involved in?
Edit: Same question with 2 Bronto - is it out of commission? And is 16 Aerial stationed at 2 to provide downtown coverage?
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Both trucks are using spares for unknown reasons. It's common to have to swap out for a spare for anything from a scheduled oil change to something broken.
Didn't know 2 Pump was in an accident.
2 Bronto is indeed down for repair. 16 Aerial has been moved up to 2 and is now running as 2 Aerial (but under Bronto rules, i.e. doesn't go on bells unless confirmed fire). There is a spare running out of 16 as 16 Aerial.
Didn't know 2 Pump was in an accident.
2 Bronto is indeed down for repair. 16 Aerial has been moved up to 2 and is now running as 2 Aerial (but under Bronto rules, i.e. doesn't go on bells unless confirmed fire). There is a spare running out of 16 as 16 Aerial.
MrVelvet
Member
I was attending the Firefighter memorial on Wednesday, (with my scanner and earbuds in tote), and 2 Pump was called out. Shortly after it left the memorial, they made a call stating they were in an accident at Memorial and Edmonton Trail. After the ceremony, I made the walk over to the accident scene to see what happened and it looks like someone T-boned them right at the pump controls. It was nothing major but did put a pretty good dent in the truck.
I took a picture with my crappy camera phone and will upload it tonight.
I took a picture with my crappy camera phone and will upload it tonight.
yyc_tbird_sc
Member
Jay...just wondering. I've programmed the CFD All Calls TGID 15344 into my 996 (along with most of the other TGID's too), but I have yet to get anything on it. I thought the all calls channel was the same as the voice page on either 413 or 418.4875. Am I wrong on this assumption?
MrVelvet
Member
I'm pretty certain the All Calls are a fairly rare occurrence. The only time I have heard them is when the iMobile or in-station tone out system will be down for maintenance.
Even those kind of all-calls are not done on 15344. The all-call talkgroups are special talkgroups that transmit on ALL radios for that agency. CPS has one, tg 48112. I suspect that only their special teams like vice, HEATT, and other UC (undercover) elements are exempt from the all-channels TG (via programming in their radios). CPS uses it for a "calling all cars" type channel, where they have something major going on, like needing to alert bank robbery units of a call. In Fire's case, it would have to be very major in order to use that channel. I think I recall that it's to be used for alerting the entire department that dispatch is going down - i.e. when the dispatch center has to "bug-out", or evacuate, and move to the backup center (which has yet to happen in modern history, that I'm aware of).
The voice alerts don't get normally patched through to the trunk system at all. Ultimately, the current alerting system is going to be replaced with something newer that will alert both Fire and EMS (city and rural), much more efficiently and most likely on both the trunk system and, for the rural crews, the appropriate conventional radio channel(s). And, it will be autodisp, like Edmonton is/was.
The voice alerts don't get normally patched through to the trunk system at all. Ultimately, the current alerting system is going to be replaced with something newer that will alert both Fire and EMS (city and rural), much more efficiently and most likely on both the trunk system and, for the rural crews, the appropriate conventional radio channel(s). And, it will be autodisp, like Edmonton is/was.
MrVelvet
Member
Jay, is CFD really cutting down on the calls they take outside of the City?
There was a medical call this morning that 20 or 29 could have easily attended to, but 71 Pump was sent instead, (making for a much longer drive). The medics came from the City, but it was surprising that 71 was chosen for medical backup.
There was a medical call this morning that 20 or 29 could have easily attended to, but 71 Pump was sent instead, (making for a much longer drive). The medics came from the City, but it was surprising that 71 was chosen for medical backup.
There are actually two issues identified in your post.
1. CFD is definitely working toward no longer leaving the city limits except as mutual aid. This has been stated in an offhand method in the media, but no official statement has been made that I've seen. This means that for example the homes off Lott Creek Boulevard, off Hwy 8 west of the city, which are in Rocky View, are now the responsibility of Rocky View and its associated agencies. You know who I'm getting at here - Redwood Meadows. We are first-due for Lott Creek and Elbow Valley, for the time being. Calgary has said they will respond to requests to support crews, in a secondary response condition.
2. Springbank has a special fixed area that they respond to within Rocky View. This is because Springbank residents were levied a special tax that paid for 71 Station to be built and established. 71 also has a paid paramedic on board, unlike any other crews in the region which may have at most an EMT or an EMR/FMR in Calgary. Springbank responds to ALL medical calls in their area for these reasons. In most other areas, Rocky View crews only respond to delta and echo and MVC responses.
Hopefully that explains the situation - if not, let me know and I'll try to expand on it. I just woke up so I'm not sure if my ideas are coming across properly.
Other recent news:
- Cochrane has received their new aerial platform. It is a Rosenbauer/Metz aerial, popular in Europe but not often seen in North America. I'll be getting pics of it on Tuesday for upload probably Wednesday or later.
- Tsuu T'ina is reported to be back in the business of fire protection. They will have a fire department established shortly, which will be responsible for the Grey Eagle Casino. No word if they will respond to other areas of the reserve, and/or for what types of responses. They previously utilized the station number 61, so I would expect that will continue. The rumor is that PSC will dispatch them. Not sure what, if any, radios they will use.
1. CFD is definitely working toward no longer leaving the city limits except as mutual aid. This has been stated in an offhand method in the media, but no official statement has been made that I've seen. This means that for example the homes off Lott Creek Boulevard, off Hwy 8 west of the city, which are in Rocky View, are now the responsibility of Rocky View and its associated agencies. You know who I'm getting at here - Redwood Meadows. We are first-due for Lott Creek and Elbow Valley, for the time being. Calgary has said they will respond to requests to support crews, in a secondary response condition.
2. Springbank has a special fixed area that they respond to within Rocky View. This is because Springbank residents were levied a special tax that paid for 71 Station to be built and established. 71 also has a paid paramedic on board, unlike any other crews in the region which may have at most an EMT or an EMR/FMR in Calgary. Springbank responds to ALL medical calls in their area for these reasons. In most other areas, Rocky View crews only respond to delta and echo and MVC responses.
Hopefully that explains the situation - if not, let me know and I'll try to expand on it. I just woke up so I'm not sure if my ideas are coming across properly.
Other recent news:
- Cochrane has received their new aerial platform. It is a Rosenbauer/Metz aerial, popular in Europe but not often seen in North America. I'll be getting pics of it on Tuesday for upload probably Wednesday or later.
- Tsuu T'ina is reported to be back in the business of fire protection. They will have a fire department established shortly, which will be responsible for the Grey Eagle Casino. No word if they will respond to other areas of the reserve, and/or for what types of responses. They previously utilized the station number 61, so I would expect that will continue. The rumor is that PSC will dispatch them. Not sure what, if any, radios they will use.
MrVelvet
Member
No, that makes sense Jay. I'm sure the City is tired of the MD leaning on them to provide coverage, (on purpose or not). This morning's call was on Pinetree Drive, so pretty damn close to the City.
Is the CAD system smart enough so it doesn't dispatch the closest CFD apparatus, or is that something the PSC dispatcher has to do manually?
Can't wait for the pictures of the Cochrane aerial. Is Cochrane only using their new firehall? Have they demolished the old one or built another new one yet?
A Tsu Tina FD would have to cover a massive area, that's for sure. The distance between the Casino and say the Golf Course for example is pretty lengthy. Not knowing the history, I'm presuming there used to be Fire Protection but no longer.
"Not sure what, if any, radios they will use." - Hahaha, for some reason that was the funniest thing to read this morning....so many jokes possible.
Is the CAD system smart enough so it doesn't dispatch the closest CFD apparatus, or is that something the PSC dispatcher has to do manually?
Can't wait for the pictures of the Cochrane aerial. Is Cochrane only using their new firehall? Have they demolished the old one or built another new one yet?
A Tsu Tina FD would have to cover a massive area, that's for sure. The distance between the Casino and say the Golf Course for example is pretty lengthy. Not knowing the history, I'm presuming there used to be Fire Protection but no longer.
"Not sure what, if any, radios they will use." - Hahaha, for some reason that was the funniest thing to read this morning....so many jokes possible.
Even the dispatchers are surprised on that one. There was a call to Pinebrook GC the other day that 71 went on. That little wedge is the farthest limit of 71's area... they don't head south to 8 because they would have to get all the way to 101 street or to Hwy 22 to get onto 8 - there's no place across the river in between the two.
There's a special area that's been defined in the CAD program that's set up this way: "If it's a medical call and it's less than a Delta and 71 pump is available, send them; else send no one". That's pretty much a layman's description of exactly how the run orders defined in CAD work. Anything inside the city (which is another set/defined area in CAD) goes: "If call type HSE send two pumpers of type CALGARY and one aerial and one emergency and one district chief" (for example). There's a little bit extra, for example, the definition "pumper(s) of type CALGARY" has its own sub-definition that says "one pumper with full staffing; if closest pumper is not fully staffed, send it and the next closest pumper". So if you have a house fire in Queensland, and 19 Pump is short a man because of a recent medical call, the computer will recommend 19P 14P 19A (presuming it's in service!) 26P 26E SDC. The odd one out on that list is 14P, which would normally not get called, but is extra because 19 Pump is short.
Right now, CAD can't differentiate between city and rural aerials, tanks, and emergencies, so every now and then we get odd recommends like 22P 12P 12A 59RC for a building fire in the far east edge of the city; we have to manually pick a Calgary emergency for that one. The new version of CAD we'll get in 2009 or 2010 will have much more functionality to address this kind of thing.
The old building at 220 2 St W and the old town office beside it is gone - razed at least a month ago if not two. The last time I heard plans for any future expansion in Cochrane it was for 52 station to be a house type station (a la 3/32/34 in the city) somewhere in one of the outlying subdivisions like Bow Meadows or GlenEagles, or maybe up on Sunset Ridge.
When you say the golf course, do you mean Buffalo Run down by 37 St x ~130 Av or do you mean Redwood Meadows (which is actually part of the reserve and not the actual Redwood Meadows townsite)? Weaselhead Road actually connects the Grey Eagle area with the Bullhead Road/Chula Bv/37 St region fairly efficiently, so north-south responses along the eastern edge of the reserve aren't too bad. Going east-west is hard on vehicles on those dirt roads, and it's much faster to take either 8 or 22X to whatever entrance you need and jump in from there.
There was a fire department in the mid 90s off-and-on for a year or two, with a station fairly centrally located (near where the schools are now IIRC), but I think lack of calls caused members to lose interest and that killed it. (But I could be wrong - all I know is, it evaporated at one point.)
"Not sure what, if any, radios they will use." - Hahaha, for some reason that was the funniest thing to read this morning....so many jokes possible.
Tsuu T'ina used to have a radio license on 413.8125. I haven't checked the TAFL to see if it's still there, but the tower nearest to Redwood doesn't appear to have any antenna on it any longer, so I'd be surprised if it was still in use. They could probably convince CFD to let them piggyback on the trunk like Rocky View is doing, but that's a decent expenditure for a small department (~$5000 per radio, mobile or handheld). And my past experience has been that the last iteration didn't have radios, and the current Nakoda FD, if they operate radios, hasn't been sleuthed out by me or anyone else who's willing to give up the info. So that's why I said what I did.
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hey guys, still no pics (don't know whats happening there, but i'll find out).
i have a question, if Tsuu T'ina starts up there department again are they going to be running there pumper and tanker that they had?, or did they just close the deparment and sell the rigs etc....
so CFD isn't responding in on mutal aid medical calls?, they should have at least announced it to the communitys that are effected, ow well
one last thing is 71 pump running 5 firefighters then?
thanks
i have a question, if Tsuu T'ina starts up there department again are they going to be running there pumper and tanker that they had?, or did they just close the deparment and sell the rigs etc....
so CFD isn't responding in on mutal aid medical calls?, they should have at least announced it to the communitys that are effected, ow well
one last thing is 71 pump running 5 firefighters then?
thanks
Only Tsuu T'ina knows what apparatus they have. I believe the pump and tank that used to be there were damaged by letting them sit outside full of water in deep-freeze temperatures, so they're likely unusable even if they still exist.
CFD isn't responding on ANY rural calls as primary responders. And it's not the city's responsibility to tell this to the Rockyview taxpayers.
71 Pump runs whatever it can get. Sometimes it's 5 guys plus 4 more in the bush buggy, if volunteer turnout happens to be high that day. Sometimes it's just the 2 paid guys (captain and medic).
CFD isn't responding on ANY rural calls as primary responders. And it's not the city's responsibility to tell this to the Rockyview taxpayers.
71 Pump runs whatever it can get. Sometimes it's 5 guys plus 4 more in the bush buggy, if volunteer turnout happens to be high that day. Sometimes it's just the 2 paid guys (captain and medic).
MrVelvet
Member
On a somewhat related note, I was in the neighborhood and swung by 33 station yesterday and it looks really close to being done - good looking station too.....4 bays!
I took a couple pictures and can upload them tonight if anyone is interested.
I took a couple pictures and can upload them tonight if anyone is interested.
MrVelvet
Member
Jay, I think we are going to drive you nuts with all the questions.
It looks like we are primary for gas leak hazmat calls in the MD though. Current call out on Silverwoods Dr in the MD has 34 Pump first on scene with 21 in route to the call - I haven't heard anything about 71/72/51/52 attending.
It looks like we are primary for gas leak hazmat calls in the MD though. Current call out on Silverwoods Dr in the MD has 34 Pump first on scene with 21 in route to the call - I haven't heard anything about 71/72/51/52 attending.
MrVelvet
Member
Radiospotting from today:
Heard Chief Burrell radio in to dispatch this morning, (on C14), confirming the new practice of sending 2 pumps to all gas leak Hazmat calls. It was kind of funny to hear him radio in.
Heard Chief Burrell radio in to dispatch this morning, (on C14), confirming the new practice of sending 2 pumps to all gas leak Hazmat calls. It was kind of funny to hear him radio in.
There are several type of hazmat/gas leak calls.
Hazmat cold - fluid pickup only - one pump cold
Hazmat hot - large spill or dangerous goods - one pump hot, one hazmat hot
Gas leak - small bottle i.e. 20# propane cyl/bbq tank - one pump hot, one aerial (or unit with flare kit) hot
Gas leak - large bottle/major situation i.e. 100# commercial cylinder, vehicle tank, etc., or odor in a house, gas/chlorine alarm at an arena or pool, etc - one pump hot, one hazmat hot
Gas leak - fractured/broken outdoor line - 2 pumps hot, 1 hazmat hot, 1 district chief hot
It's the "Line" issue which gets the 2nd pump. These calls may occasionally be called "GASA" or "Gas Aerial", "GASHM" or "GAS Hazmat", or "GASL" or "GAS Line" ... people have a habit of calling things by their event types.
Hazmat cold - fluid pickup only - one pump cold
Hazmat hot - large spill or dangerous goods - one pump hot, one hazmat hot
Gas leak - small bottle i.e. 20# propane cyl/bbq tank - one pump hot, one aerial (or unit with flare kit) hot
Gas leak - large bottle/major situation i.e. 100# commercial cylinder, vehicle tank, etc., or odor in a house, gas/chlorine alarm at an arena or pool, etc - one pump hot, one hazmat hot
Gas leak - fractured/broken outdoor line - 2 pumps hot, 1 hazmat hot, 1 district chief hot
It's the "Line" issue which gets the 2nd pump. These calls may occasionally be called "GASA" or "Gas Aerial", "GASHM" or "GAS Hazmat", or "GASL" or "GAS Line" ... people have a habit of calling things by their event types.
And, as promised, Cochrane's new truck's details.
51 Platform
Spartan/General/Rosenbauer/Metz T-Rex - 1st in North America
Features:
- Auto-leveling - put all the jacks touching the ground, at any position in their side-to-side position ("infinite short jacking" capability), and hit a button, and the truck will set itself up so it is level in both axes. If it is short-jacked, it knows it and will restrict operations to only those areas which are safe. Can also set itself up on up to a 7 degree front-to-back slope - the department had it set up the other day on a steep driveway with the rear tailboard 3" off the ground and the front bumper 7' high! (Great for oil changes, I say.)
- Auto-bed - with the main stick facing forward at 30 degree raise or less, can push a button and the entire thing will self-bed automatically.
- Proximity sensors on all three sides of the basket (less the boom/"back" side) and on the bottom prevent you from getting within 24" of an obstruction. Can be overridden for 15 seconds at reduced velocity if closer approach is required (i.e. "landing" on the ground, or approaching a window)
- "Recording" feature can store up to 4 minutes of actions to, for example, navigate the basket from the street up over/around power lines, past trees, to a window; then, on "playback", simply push the lever forward to follow the same path up to the window, and pull back to follow the reciprocal path to the street.
- Can start/stop the engine of the truck from both the operator's position on the turntable or in the basket, if reducing idling time is a concern
- Handsfree communication from basket to turntable; foot-operated boom mic communication from turntable to basket, and very crisp, clear audio, even with truck running at high throttle
- If any failures or mishaps occur (i.e. jack becomes unloaded on a side), LCD control panel shows which directions operator is allowed to move the boom/basket to establish safe recovery
- Graphical representation on LCD of rung alignment on escape ladder from basket
- Can control all scene/emergency lights, and 1000GPM monitor/standpipe connection, from basket or turntable
- Basket temperature and wind speed is monitorable from both operator positions; if basket is getting hot, alarm will sound, prompting basket operator to activate underspray - if wind gets too high, truck will restrict its raise/rotate to safe positions
- Each jack has a load meter measuring the load on each corner of the truck in kN (kilo-newtons) - system knows exactly how much stress is on the machine at any given moment in any given direction
- Basket is also equipped with sensors identifying max load in terms of both personnel and waterflow
This thing is sweet .. like I said, maybe some of the above is nothing new, but as a raw rookie in terms of ladder operations, I was really impressed.
Odds are we won't see it down our way too often, though, as it weighs over 82,000 pounds and would probably snap most/all of our bridges into little tiny pieces.
102' aerial platform
2000GPM pump with electronic governor controls
30gal Foam Pro system
300gal water tank ("enough to fill the waterway and a teacup" per the capt)
5-person cab with A/C and electronic system management
This thing has more computers than my entire station.
Word is Spartan built the cab/chassis, shipped it to Metz in Germany for the torque box and boom, shipped it back to Rosenbauer in Minneapolis for the compartmenting, and then finally brought it to southern Alberta for delivery.
59 Chestermere is getting a similar one shortly, and chassis #3 is reportedly heading for Colorado later this year.
The actual truck is featured heavily on Rosenbauer's website for the T-Rex at http://www.rosenbaueramerica.com/apparatus/trucks/aerials/trex/ - including a video of them putting it thru the paces.
I don't deny that those are luxuries.. the department is carrying out several aerial courses and specialized training on this particular truck in order to get their whole department trained.
As promised, pictures..
On the way to full 102' (32m) stretch...
Pump panel:
Closeup of pump panel showing diagram of truck and colored indicators identifying which gauges are for which line(s) on the truck.
LCD screens for rear jacks during setup. Yellow squares indicate position of jacks making contact on ground without full pressure; would turn green when pressure applied. Red segments of circle are areas where the truck will not allow the basket to go due to positioning of the jacks.
Changes to this screen when auto-leveling procedure takes place. Shows -0.1° out of balance forward and -0.2° to the right. (Essentially 0.1 deg rearward and 0.2 deg leftward, which matches since the truck was partially on asphalt, partially on hard packed soil/dirt, the latter in the left rear.)
The entire jacking panel at rear for the left side outriggers. Right side has joystick, buttons, and kill switch swapped side-to-side.
Same screen showing loads as measured on each jack while stick is in the air (as indicated by the black line in center of the image, showing position/orientation).
Similar screen at operator's (seating) position. Buttons above adjust basket functions, below is engine start/stop, weight loading function (see below) and hidden behind waterway, volume control for basket comms. On screen is position of the ladder including each boom and the basket, within a green semi-circular arc identifying safe movement locations. Not shown is control panel for nozzle/waterway.
(The weight loading functions allow the operator to select how many personnel are required in the basket and the display will identify how many rescuees/how much waterflow/tools/etc can be added, either in kg or in persons (1 FF fully equipped = 250kg in their calcuations).
Basket, up close. Visible is the 24V/120V lighting on both sides and the front of the basket; fold-down rescue platform and forward-opening doors of the front of the basket; nozzle and standpipe connection; and casters on bottom of the basket to prevent damage when bedded or landed on roof/ground. (The large silver cylinder and black cable lying across the basket is a radio antenna being installed on a tower.)
Warning! Warning! Chevrons ahead.. those of you who don't like 'em, scroll down now to the end of the post.
Daytime:
Nighttime, natural light
Nighttime, camera flash
51 Platform
Spartan/General/Rosenbauer/Metz T-Rex - 1st in North America
Features:
- Auto-leveling - put all the jacks touching the ground, at any position in their side-to-side position ("infinite short jacking" capability), and hit a button, and the truck will set itself up so it is level in both axes. If it is short-jacked, it knows it and will restrict operations to only those areas which are safe. Can also set itself up on up to a 7 degree front-to-back slope - the department had it set up the other day on a steep driveway with the rear tailboard 3" off the ground and the front bumper 7' high! (Great for oil changes, I say.)
- Auto-bed - with the main stick facing forward at 30 degree raise or less, can push a button and the entire thing will self-bed automatically.
- Proximity sensors on all three sides of the basket (less the boom/"back" side) and on the bottom prevent you from getting within 24" of an obstruction. Can be overridden for 15 seconds at reduced velocity if closer approach is required (i.e. "landing" on the ground, or approaching a window)
- "Recording" feature can store up to 4 minutes of actions to, for example, navigate the basket from the street up over/around power lines, past trees, to a window; then, on "playback", simply push the lever forward to follow the same path up to the window, and pull back to follow the reciprocal path to the street.
- Can start/stop the engine of the truck from both the operator's position on the turntable or in the basket, if reducing idling time is a concern
- Handsfree communication from basket to turntable; foot-operated boom mic communication from turntable to basket, and very crisp, clear audio, even with truck running at high throttle
- If any failures or mishaps occur (i.e. jack becomes unloaded on a side), LCD control panel shows which directions operator is allowed to move the boom/basket to establish safe recovery
- Graphical representation on LCD of rung alignment on escape ladder from basket
- Can control all scene/emergency lights, and 1000GPM monitor/standpipe connection, from basket or turntable
- Basket temperature and wind speed is monitorable from both operator positions; if basket is getting hot, alarm will sound, prompting basket operator to activate underspray - if wind gets too high, truck will restrict its raise/rotate to safe positions
- Each jack has a load meter measuring the load on each corner of the truck in kN (kilo-newtons) - system knows exactly how much stress is on the machine at any given moment in any given direction
- Basket is also equipped with sensors identifying max load in terms of both personnel and waterflow
This thing is sweet .. like I said, maybe some of the above is nothing new, but as a raw rookie in terms of ladder operations, I was really impressed.
Odds are we won't see it down our way too often, though, as it weighs over 82,000 pounds and would probably snap most/all of our bridges into little tiny pieces.
102' aerial platform
2000GPM pump with electronic governor controls
30gal Foam Pro system
300gal water tank ("enough to fill the waterway and a teacup" per the capt
) 5-person cab with A/C and electronic system management
This thing has more computers than my entire station.
Word is Spartan built the cab/chassis, shipped it to Metz in Germany for the torque box and boom, shipped it back to Rosenbauer in Minneapolis for the compartmenting, and then finally brought it to southern Alberta for delivery.
59 Chestermere is getting a similar one shortly, and chassis #3 is reportedly heading for Colorado later this year.
The actual truck is featured heavily on Rosenbauer's website for the T-Rex at http://www.rosenbaueramerica.com/apparatus/trucks/aerials/trex/ - including a video of them putting it thru the paces.
I don't deny that those are luxuries.. the department is carrying out several aerial courses and specialized training on this particular truck in order to get their whole department trained.
As promised, pictures..
On the way to full 102' (32m) stretch...
Pump panel:
Closeup of pump panel showing diagram of truck and colored indicators identifying which gauges are for which line(s) on the truck.
LCD screens for rear jacks during setup. Yellow squares indicate position of jacks making contact on ground without full pressure; would turn green when pressure applied. Red segments of circle are areas where the truck will not allow the basket to go due to positioning of the jacks.
Changes to this screen when auto-leveling procedure takes place. Shows -0.1° out of balance forward and -0.2° to the right. (Essentially 0.1 deg rearward and 0.2 deg leftward, which matches since the truck was partially on asphalt, partially on hard packed soil/dirt, the latter in the left rear.)
The entire jacking panel at rear for the left side outriggers. Right side has joystick, buttons, and kill switch swapped side-to-side.
Same screen showing loads as measured on each jack while stick is in the air (as indicated by the black line in center of the image, showing position/orientation).
Similar screen at operator's (seating) position. Buttons above adjust basket functions, below is engine start/stop, weight loading function (see below) and hidden behind waterway, volume control for basket comms. On screen is position of the ladder including each boom and the basket, within a green semi-circular arc identifying safe movement locations. Not shown is control panel for nozzle/waterway.
(The weight loading functions allow the operator to select how many personnel are required in the basket and the display will identify how many rescuees/how much waterflow/tools/etc can be added, either in kg or in persons (1 FF fully equipped = 250kg in their calcuations).
Basket, up close. Visible is the 24V/120V lighting on both sides and the front of the basket; fold-down rescue platform and forward-opening doors of the front of the basket; nozzle and standpipe connection; and casters on bottom of the basket to prevent damage when bedded or landed on roof/ground. (The large silver cylinder and black cable lying across the basket is a radio antenna being installed on a tower.)
Warning! Warning! Chevrons ahead.. those of you who don't like 'em, scroll down now to the end of the post.
Daytime:
Nighttime, natural light
Nighttime, camera flash
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