Syracuse FD Light Rescue Vehicles

[fyreline]

As the Syracuse Fire Department gained more experience with its Rescue Company, by 1960 they began to study the high number of simple emergency and first aid runs that the heavy rescue was responding to. It was thought that a smaller unit utilizing two of the company’s personnel could better handle these types of calls, conserving the wear and tear on the larger unit.  Accordingly, in 1962 a light rescue unit was placed in service as the second vehicle of the Rescue Company. This unit would be called the First Aid. The vehicle chosen was a Chevrolet Suburban-based unit, suitably modified by the Automotive Conversion Corporation with ambulance equipment.  Automotive Conversion Corp. introduced the Suburban-based Rescu-All in late 1958. Available on both long- and short-wheelbase Chevrolet and GMC Suburbans, the vehicle was well-equipped for rescue duty and included a full complement of warning lights, a beacon, a siren, head light flashers, medical cabinetry, an attendant's seat, a full-size collapsible stretcher and frosted plexiglass rear window inserts. These types of vehicles were offered by ACC from 1958 through 1979. Cost of the SFD's new unit, delivered in 1962, was $4,990.

 

Here's an excellent shot by Dick Sparrow showing Syracuse's 1962 unit shortly after it entered service:

 



 

The new unit proved to be extremely useful and versatile - and busy!  So much so that it was in need of replacement within only a few years. During those years, the City of Syracuse was capably served by a local private ambulance company, Eastern Ambulance.  They stepped forward in 1970 and made one of their older units, a 1965 Cadillac, available to the SFD. Although the firefighters loved having a Cadillac, unfortunately the nice ride didn't last long. Within a year, the Cadillac was totaled when it was T-boned at a downtown intersection while responding to an alarm. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries - and also fortunately, a new First Aid unit was already on order.  UNfortunately, however, the Cadillac was in service for such a short time that no pictures seem to exist of it, either in eastern Ambulance or SFD livery. What appears below is a quick 'n dirty Photoshop of a rig that isn't ours, just to show what it looked like. I sure would like a "real" photo, if anyone has one.

 



 

The new SFD First Aid unit was delivered in May 1970, and was built by the Gerstenslager Company of Wooster, Ohio.  The vehicle cost $10,475 delivered.  A few years after it entered service, the unit’s radio designation was changed from “First Aid” to “Rescue 2” (the heavy rescue was, of course,” Rescue 1”).

 

[nealcraig]

SWEET!!!

[fyreline]

As the SFD era of Safety Yellow paint and “Rescue 2” unfolded, the first of a number of modular-style ambulance units appeared. The first of these was acquired in 1975 and was built by Medicoach of Oneonta, NY on a Chevrolet C30 chassis. The unit featured the big 454 cubic inch V8, and was always a speedy ride to alarms.

 



 

Next in the series was a 1982 delivery on the much larger Chevrolet Model 6D chassis, with bodywork by the Modular Ambulance Corporation of Grand Prairie, Texas. With diesel power and an Allison automatic transmission, the price tag for this unit came to $74,986.  It was never very popular with its crews, who considered it a “dump truck chassis”, and it rode like one.  I remember as a young Lieutenant working a covering assignment at Rescue, we had to transport a firefighter injured at an alarm scene to the hospital. He said the ride did more damage to him than his injuries, and he would just as soon take a cab home. 

 



 

Sanity finally returned when a 1988 Ford/Braun Type III unit was received, more in line with what Eastern Ambulance was using. The crews liked this unit a lot, but the Ford E-350 was sometimes difficult for the Division of Maintenance to service. Not a lot of room under that hood.

 



 

Rescue Company personnel were more concerned about the box than the chassis, so the next unit had a very similar “working end”, also by Braun, but was a Type I on a Ford F-350 chassis. It featured an additional compartment atop the body for the Stokes basket, which looked like a shark fin to the crew, so that particular Rescue 2 was always known as “The Shark”. Delivered in 1992, this unit had a price tag of $91,825.

 

[fyreline]

The next Rescue 2 was another Type 1 delivered in 2000, with a Wheeled Coach body. This unit was sent to New York City in September 2001 with a contingent of Syracuse firefighters following the attack on the World Trade Center. Price tag on the unit was $97,725 and it featured the new dark red Syracuse paint scheme.

 

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in 2002, a re-thinking of the mission of the Rescue Company in general and Rescue 2 specifically led to the Chief of Fire deciding that Rescue 2 would be better served with one of the First Response Vehicles that all of the engine companies were using as Minis. A few small modifications would be made to Rescue 2's particular vehicle to reflect the specialized tools and equipment it carried. As a group of the Ford F-350/ FX fiberglass utility body arrived at the SFD Shops in 2002, one of them became the new Rescue 2:

 

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The 2002 unit was in turn replaced by a newer unit in 2005 . . . and the pattern was set for more frequent replacement at much lower cost. These units, out the door fully equipped, were well under $55,000 each at the time.

 

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. . . and again in 2008.  This pattern would continue until finally, in 2011, it was decided that there was really no need for Rescue 2, as the other Minis all around the city had developed their skills and equipment. This unit would be the final Rescue 2.

 

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[fyreline]

Part of the decision to move away from the assignment of an ambulance-style apparatus to Rescue 2 recognized that there was still value in having an ambulance in the fleet. It was useful for transporting our own firefighters, and also to serve as a backup for the local private ambulance company. That company, Eastern Ambulance, had been bought out by Rural/Metro in the mid-1990s, and more recently has now become AMR. There are occasions when we are asked to have an ambulance on standby for major events, VIP visits, etc., and we would rather have control of the situation ourselves than to rely on any outside agencies. For that reason, we continue to maintain an ambulance in the fleet to this day. The 2000 Ford/Wheeled Coach unit was transferred to become Mini 3, the only SFD company that runs an ambulance as its second piece instead of one of the First Response Vehicles. When a new ambulance was ordered in 2004 (a Ford E-350 Type III/MedicMaster) it went directly to Station 3, with the radio designation A-3. At that time the 2000 Ford F-350/Wheeled Coach went to Station 17, where it operated as a second ambulance for a brief time before it was decided to just keep it there as a spare.  When a new ambulance replaced A-3 in 2014 )another Ford E-350 Type III), the 2004 Medicmaster stayed at 3's as a spare and the 2000 Wheeled Coach was disposed of.

 

Here's a photo of the 2000 Ford F-350/Wheeled Coach late in its life, assigned to Station 17. It was undecided at that point whether or not to still call the ambulances "Minis" or not . . . and even though it is labeled Mini 17 in the picture, it wasn't called that for long.

 



 

This is the 2004 Ford E-350/MedicMaster Type III purchased for A-3:

 



 

The current A3 is a 2014 Ford E-450/Wheeled Coach Citimedic Type III. It was a stock unit and the decision was made not to paint it.

 

[Brad Street]

Chief,

 

On the Minis and the Ambulance are the Firefighters EMTs or are they running one EMT one Paramedic or a double Paramedic truck?

[fyreline]

Chief,

 

On the Minis and the Ambulance are the Firefighters EMTs or are they running one EMT one Paramedic or a double Paramedic truck?

All SFD personnel are EMTs, becoming a Paramedic is optional but recommended, and many have done so. Most. if not all, personnel at Station 3 are Paramedics due to running the ambulance.

[Brad Street]

All SFD personnel are EMTs, becoming a Paramedic is optional but recommended, and many have done so. Most. if not all, personnel at Station 3 are Paramedics due to running the ambulance.

Thanks for the reply Chief.  Always curious as to how other departments staff various apparatus.