While I can't speak to St. Louis, my department has also gone away from the all quint model (Richmond, VA). It was funny because everyone bitched about how much they hated the quint concept, and then when some of them are told they are now a truck company, the first thing they want to do at a fire is pull a line. Or an engine crew that shows up with nothing but hooks in their hands. Shrug.
The quints showed up here in 1998 so we have plenty of guys that knew nothing but that. One of the biggest downfalls in my eyes was the idea that everyone could do everything which lead to zero operational discipline. So some guys still struggle with that. One of the big selling points for the quints here was to eliminate positions. So naturally when we go back to engines/ladders we don't have as many people or companies. Truck 24 is currently in a house by itself. Since they ride in an old quint right now they still can function as an engine within their first due. Not sure how that is going to play out as we start to replace the remaining quints with real ladders for the truck companies.
The quints showed up here in 1998 so we have plenty of guys that knew nothing but that. One of the biggest downfalls in my eyes was the idea that everyone could do everything which lead to zero operational discipline. So some guys still struggle with that. One of the big selling points for the quints here was to eliminate positions. So naturally when we go back to engines/ladders we don't have as many people or companies. Truck 24 is currently in a house by itself. Since they ride in an old quint right now they still can function as an engine within their first due. Not sure how that is going to play out as we start to replace the remaining quints with real ladders for the truck companies.
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