That's pretty much what we heard from the cities we contacted, Skip. There are quite a few larger cities running newer KME equipment, and I made it a point to contact my opposite number (back when I was Chief of Maintenance, before I got promoted to Deputy Chief of Operations) at many of those departments to find out what their real-world experiences were. Most, if not all, of the issues were those chassis, engine, transmission and pump issues common to all fire apparatus manufacturers. I was particularly concerned with any electrical or construction quality issues, which turned up here and there, but not enough to suggest a pattern. Our specifications package is pretty comprehensive, and over the years my Maintenance Division personnel and I have learned what to look for, and how to work with the manufacturer to correct problems early in the construction process. I might say the same for American LaFrance Eagle apparatus - we have five TeleSqurt engines and a tandem-axle heavy rescue in the fleet, and they have given good service. Most of the issues we had with American LaFrance were with the company and their customer support, not the product. We developed some "work-arounds" to keep the parts supply coming, it will be interesting to see how this "third party" parts support will work out.
It doesn't take long for any - and I do mean ANY - fire apparatus manufacturer to get a bad name. All it really takes is one bad rig . . . Which may or may not be entirely the fault of the builder. Yes, there has been some junk out there over the years, but there have been just as many sets of specifications that called for exactly that junk. I've seen them. The new rig comes in, and it's underpowered, oversize, overweight, and is missing some key features. And it's 100% compliant with the specs the manufacturer was given. So, of course "All of those rigs are junk".
I do have to say that I entirely agree that any American LaFrance rig not built in Elmira should never have been called by that name. Just my opinion, of course.
It doesn't take long for any - and I do mean ANY - fire apparatus manufacturer to get a bad name. All it really takes is one bad rig . . . Which may or may not be entirely the fault of the builder. Yes, there has been some junk out there over the years, but there have been just as many sets of specifications that called for exactly that junk. I've seen them. The new rig comes in, and it's underpowered, oversize, overweight, and is missing some key features. And it's 100% compliant with the specs the manufacturer was given. So, of course "All of those rigs are junk".
I do have to say that I entirely agree that any American LaFrance rig not built in Elmira should never have been called by that name. Just my opinion, of course.
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