Philadelphia, PA

[firepost]

[quote name='Crossbronxxpress' post='51950' date='Nov 18 2006, 21:51 ']Just a quick correction about Philly's Mack Tower Ladders. There were actually 3 of them. A 1978 Single rear axle model that originally served in TL-6, then TL-4, then junked (it currently sits in a lot with other old trucks along I-95 in Philly). TL-18 had a 1982 dual rear axle model, and a 1986 dual rear axle model was at TL-6, then TL-4, and in the past year has been junked.[/quote]

Thanks for printing the information on Philly's ex Tower Ladders.I'm from Chicago (the birthplace of the Snorkel) and one of things that I had liked about the Philadelphia Fire Department is it's variety of apparatus which was applicable until several year ago when the two remaining Aerialscopes were retired and replaced with conventional Tillered Aerials.

I'm aware that an order had been placed with KME for 2 mid mount Tower Ladders in the early 2000's but after the first one was delivered and rejected the order was cancelled.I recently read that the Philadlephia Fire Department plans to finally order a new Tower Ladder for next year which seems to be long overdue.

As someone who isn't from the Philly area (but I try to keep up to date with whats happening there) it seems as if your recent Fire Department Management had been downgrading Philly's elevated stream and elevating Platform capabilty's by reducing the amount of Platforms in service and by not ordering new Platforms.When I started learniing about the Philadelphia Fire Department in the late 1980's,Philly had 6 Platforms they were Snorkels 2,5,22 and 28 plus Tower Ladders 6 and 18.In recent years the number was cut in half and just like the Tower Ladders Snorkel 22 was replaced with a Tillered Aerial Ladder instead of a Platform.

I'm very aware the Philly has been suffering from financial difficulty's for quite a while now and that is one of the reasons why the City has had to delay ordering new apparatus a number of times.Philly seems to have been ordering the ALF tillered Aerials on a pretty consistent basis however and that one of the reasons that I was surprised that the Fire Department hasn't ordered any new Aerial Platforms any sooner than this.



I have a question regarding the Fire Departments dispatch procedures when it comes to Elevating Platforms.Did Philly automatically dispatch a Platform (Tower Ladder or Snorkel) on an Extra Alarm Fire or would the Chief in charge have to request that one be dispatched on the particular fire?

In Chicago the Dispatch center will automatically dispatch a Tower Ladder on a "Still and Box Alarm" which is the equivalent to New Yorks signal 75 or to Philly's full box alarm response.If a 2-11 alarm(second alarm) is requested a second Tower Ladder is automatically dispatched as part of the 2-11 assignment.On additional alarms above the 2-11, additional Tower Ladders and Truck company's have to be specifically requested.

In Chicago we have 61 Truck Company's of which 10 of them are rear mounted Tower Ladders.We actually have put two additional Trucks in service over the last few year's however they had replaced 2 Engine company's that were taken out of service at the same time so we really didn't gain any company's.

Chicago's Tower Ladders are spread out around the city.With whats left of your Snorkels with the exception of Snorkel 28 ,your other two (2 and 5) are both Near downtown Philly so they aren't that well spread out. <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/computer.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tower.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />