Philadelphia, PA

[Guest]

Thanks for the 360's.

[Guest]

How are the hoseloads configured on a Philly Engine ? I wondered because of all the hose bed dividers.

[Engine2524]

[quote name='KFDI3' post='157852' date='Oct 22 2007, 22:18 ']How are the hoseloads configured on a Philly Engine ? I wondered because of all the hose bed dividers.[/quote]

The 3 sections on the right are for 5 inch LDH since this is one is going to a Pipeline company. I'm guessing that the 2 on the far left are for the inch and 3/4 lines.

[jpw25pfd]

[quote name='KFDI3' post='157852' date='Oct 22 2007, 22:18 ']How are the hoseloads configured on a Philly Engine ? I wondered because of all the hose bed dividers.[/quote]

Hose loads vary from company to company depending on the area that they cover. The basic hose load for a pipeline company, which all of the new LaFrance compnaies are going to is two sections for 5 inch line (for a total of 1000 feet), two sections of three inch, and the rest 1 3/4. One of the sections will have three lengths of three inch and three lengths of 1 1/3 connected by a gated wye. This line is preconnected. It is commonly referred to as "3 over 3".

[Guest]

[quote name='pfdbuff' post='157962' date='Oct 23 2007, 15:40 ']Hose loads vary from company to company depending on the area that they cover. The basic hose load for a pipeline company, which all of the new LaFrance compnaies are going to is two sections for 5 inch line (for a total of 1000 feet), two sections of three inch, and the rest 1 3/4. One of the sections will have three lengths of three inch and three lengths of 1 1/3 connected by a gated wye. This line is preconnected. It is commonly referred to as "3 over 3".[/quote]



Jack -



Is that 3 over 3 used mostly for the Garden Apartments? I know the North East also has some houses that are set back from the street where this load might work well too.

[hp1530]

Nice shots. Neat body config on the officers side for the hose packs

[Guest]

Thanks for the info, always looking for practical hose load setups that work instead of being cool looking.

[jpw25pfd]

[quote name='Fireman5230' post='158056' date='Oct 23 2007, 22:55 ']Jack -



Is that 3 over 3 used mostly for the Garden Apartments? I know the North East also has some houses that are set back from the street where this load might work well too.[/quote]

No, 3 over 3 is used to reach the middle of the row on some of the more narrow streets in the city. In almost all of South and North Philly the are hundreds of narrow side streets that are inaccessible to fire apparatus. The companies responding will pull up at the end of the block closest to the address of fire and stretch from there.

[Guest]

[quote name='pfdbuff' post='158119' date='Oct 24 2007, 07:46 ']No, 3 over 3 is used to reach the middle of the row on some of the more narrow streets in the city. In almost all of South and North Philly the are hundreds of narrow side streets that are inaccessible to fire apparatus. The companies responding will pull up at the end of the block closest to the address of fire and stretch from there.[/quote]



Thanks....



If you have some could you put a shot or two of the older TAC Units that were operated in the Philly Thread? Thanks again for the info!

[Guest]

Excellent Pics! The Officer side has a unique body configuration. i would like to see more Philly stuff!!!!

[jpw25pfd]

[quote name='Fireman5230' post='158187' date='Oct 24 2007, 13:29 ']Thanks....



If you have some could you put a shot or two of the older TAC Units that were operated in the Philly Thread? Thanks again for the info![/quote]

I do have photos of all of the Tac Units that served the city. Unfortunately the photos weren't take by me. My policy is not to post photos that were taken by another person. Sorry.

[Guest]

Philadelphia purchased 10 "Attack Units" between 1973 and 1974. They were all built on International chassis by Pierce, two in 1973 and eight in 1974. They were long out of service when I took photos of them at the PFD shops in 1980. Here is one of the two 1973 IHC/Pierce 250gom Attack Units, PFD #730221.



- 1980 Photo by Steve Skaar

[Guest]

Here is one of the eight 1974 IHC/Pierce 250 gpm "Attack Units" PFD #740196. I am a little curious as to how these were used by the department and for how long. Were they assigned to the Truck Companies or were they part of the Engine Company?

- 1980 Photo by Steve Skaar

[Marc]

[quote name='firebuff55407' post='158272' date='Oct 24 2007, 21:14 ']Philadelphia purchased 10 "Attack Units" between 1973 and 1974. They were all built on International chassis by Pierce, two in 1973 and eight in 1974. They were long out of service when I took photos of them at the PFD shops in 1980. Here is one of the two 1973 IHC/Pierce 250gom Attack Units, PFD #730221.



- 1980 Photo by Steve Skaar[/quote]



Man, those old blue and white Philly patrol trucks parked next to that "Attack Unit" bring back alot of old memories!

[jpw25pfd]

[quote name='firebuff55407' post='158274' date='Oct 24 2007, 21:16 ']Here is one of the eight 1974 IHC/Pierce 250 gpm "Attack Units" PFD #740196. I am a little curious as to how these were used by the department and for how long. Were they assigned to the Truck Companies or were they part of the Engine Company?

- 1980 Photo by Steve Skaar[/quote]

Steve,

These were known as Tac Units - short for Tactical Units. They were assigned to the engine company they were housed with. The radio call sign for the engine was Unit. The combined manning for the Tac and Unit was one officer and five firemen. Two firemen and the officer would ride in the Tac and three firemen would ride the unit. If for some reason the Tac was out of service, the Unit would revert back to the call sign of Engine. On local alarms, for rubbish, autos, etc the Tac would respond by itself. On boxes it would respond as part of the two piece engine company. If the fire was on one of the smaller side streets, the Tac could easily pull up in front of the fire dwelling and act as a manifold. It would be supplied by the Unit hooked up to the hydrant on the corner. If the fire went to an extra alarm, the Tac would be returned and used to cover its local area. The first Tac was placed in service during December 1972. Eventually ten would be placed in service. All of them were disbanded on January 8, 1980. They were disbanded as when the running strength of all companies was reduced as a result of budget cuts.



PFD #740196 was assigned to Tac 6

PFD #730221 was first assigned to Tac 68 - it was reassigned to Tac 41 in 1978



Jack Wright

[Guest]

[quote name='firebuff55407' post='158272' date='Oct 24 2007, 21:14 ']Philadelphia purchased 10 "Attack Units" between 1973 and 1974. They were all built on International chassis by Pierce, two in 1973 and eight in 1974. They were long out of service when I took photos of them at the PFD shops in 1980. Here is one of the two 1973 IHC/Pierce 250gom Attack Units, PFD #730221.



- 1980 Photo by Steve Skaar[/quote]



AWESOME!!! Also love the old blue Philly PD units in the background... Great memories of the 1980's going to Delaware Ave for the Musters!!!

[Guest]

pfdbuff - Thank you Jeff for the interesting story on the TAC units. I just missed seeing the Tacs in service when I visited in March of 1980. I guess I referred to them as "Attack" units as that is what they were listed under in the old PFD Apparatus Roster I got from the shops. How big were the water tanks on the Tacs? And another question I had- did Philly have paid drivers at that time? If so, was there a paid driver assigned to both the Tac and the Unit?

[Marc]

[quote name='firebuff55407' post='158302' date='Oct 24 2007, 23:31 ']pfdbuff - Thank you Jeff for the interesting story on the TAC units. I just missed seeing the Tacs in service when I visited in March of 1980. I guess I referred to them as "Attack" units as that is what they were listed under in the old PFD Apparatus Roster I got from the shops. How big were the water tanks on the Tacs? And another question I had- did Philly have paid drivers at that time? If so, was there a paid driver assigned to both the Tac and the Unit?[/quote]



Every fireman working for the Philadelphia Fire Dept. is Paid. There are no volunteers. Philly Firemen are represented by the IAFF Local 22.

[Guest]

I think what he meant was, were the drivers of the TAC units paid as Drivers or were they regular Firefighters assigned to the Companies that ran the TAC Units.



KFDI3

IAFF Local F-92

[jpw25pfd]

[quote name='firebuff55407' post='158302' date='Oct 24 2007, 23:31 ']pfdbuff - Thank you Jeff for the interesting story on the TAC units. I just missed seeing the Tacs in service when I visited in March of 1980. I guess I referred to them as "Attack" units as that is what they were listed under in the old PFD Apparatus Roster I got from the shops. How big were the water tanks on the Tacs? And another question I had- did Philly have paid drivers at that time? If so, was there a paid driver assigned to both the Tac and the Unit?[/quote]

Steve,

There isn't a driver/engineer position in the Philadelphia Fire Department. All members assigned to a company are qualified drivers. Each week the assigned positions within a company change so that over the course of a month every one at that company has his/her turn at driving etc.. The water tanks on the first two units purchased were 300 gallons. The other eight had 350 gallon tanks. Also, the first two had the "phone booth" on the officer's side of the apparatus. No others had that. Being a South Philly boy, I remember Tac 10 very well. It was pretty interesting to see them in service.



Jack