03-12-2007, 03:14 PM (This post was last modified: 03-12-2007, 03:15 PM by dcfireman.)
This is a fuzzy image of the single hoisting cylinder under the aerial. The arrangement required the pre-piped waterway to run outside of the ladder until clear of the cylinder, giving the FireSpire a unique look. The Hahns were pre-piped to the 85' level. Image is Truck 4, 1223 12th St. NW, 3rd Alarm on Box 274, June 13, 1992.
A practiced DCFD tactic was for truck drivers to knock out windows with the aerial for quick venting. However, the fragile FireSpire jumped the guides when T4 (S 372) speared a window and hit the ceiling. The tactic was removed from the books. The apparatus ended up at the Training Academy as a driver-training piece with only the bed section of the aerial remaining.
At some point Truck 14 dropped the ladder hard onto a roof, whereupon the fragile FireSpire came apart, just as Truck 4 had done. This rig, too, ended up at the Training Academy as a driver-training piece with only the bed section of the aerial remaining.
03-14-2007, 04:23 PM (This post was last modified: 03-14-2007, 04:25 PM by dcfireman.)
WOW! You’re certainly not using up space, doczaff. What a deja’ vu. The 1973 ALF tiller is Truck 8. The fireground photo is viewing west from 19th St. on Benning Rd. NE. Wings N More Wings is still there! The next to last image shows a salvage cover over the hose bed, a common practice in rainy weather. Did it rain that day?
The final image shows what may be Engine 8 (where I was appointed) passing by Five Points, several blocks west at 12th and Florida. The building is burned out (if it’s still standing). Thanks for posting these!
[quote name='firemag' post='87157' date='Mar 15 2007, 19:30 ']I need a littel help from you Washington, DC experts. I have a question regarding the air units there. I show four.
1. 1999 FL80/E-One #799
2. 1993 Chevrolet C30 stepvan #758
3. 2006 FL M2/Hackney, #756 (COG unit)
4. 1990 FL80/E-One #798
Can someone please their "permanent" station assignments and unit numbers?
Jerry[/quote]
In the 1970s the DCFD quartered the Salvage and Compressed Air Truck (“Salvage Wagon”) with Truck 9, 1617 U St. NW. This was the forerunner of the present day Air Units. It was a special called unit, staffed by the sixth man from Truck 9. It carried salvage covers, air cylinders, 02 cylinders, peripheral jet siphons, and a Kenco pump. Staffed with a one-man crew, it relocated to the quarters of Engine Co. 7, 1101 Half St. SW, c.1985
To aid jurisdictions protecting the 101-mile Metrorail system, the Metropolitan Area Transit Committee purchased three air supply units and delivered them to D.C., Arlington, VA, and Prince Georges Co., MD. Steeldraulics built them on Ford F700 chassis at a cost of $109,000 apiece. The department staffed the “Metro Unit” with a crew of one. Quartered at Engine 4, it responded to working fires in the north half of the city and all alarms of fire in the Metro system citywide. The Salvage Wagon relocated from Engine 9 to Engine 7 and ran working fires in the south half of the city. 1987 Photo.
The designations Metro Unit, and Salvage Wagon were discontinued in 1999 when the DCFD bought two Air Units from E\-One on Freightliner FL 80 chassis. Air 1 replaced the Metro Unit. The Salvage Wagon disbanded, and Air 2 was organized at the quarters of Engine Co. 8, 1520 C St. SE. April 5, 2002 photo of Air 1, S-798