It was at about this time that the increasing size of the SFD Mini-Pumpers started to become a concern. As they sat in the fire station bays, if it wasn't for the boom, they would be taller than the engines they sat next to. The next group of five Mini-Pumpers featured considerably lower rear bodywork as the first attempt at making the Minis a more manageable size. The bid was awarded to Sutphen Corporation, long the supplier of the city's tower ladders. Tom Sutphen believed he could make the five Mini-Pumpers at the Sutphen East facility in Monticello, NY and still make profit. He did make the Minis - but he didn't make a profit. They were fine in operation, but still too big. The majority of the Mini runs were EMS alarms, and climbing up & down from that big chassis multiple times per shift got old in a hurry. Here's one of the Sutphen units:
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://s5.photobucket.com/user/fyreline/media/MINI%206%201992%20INTL%20SUTPHEN_zpshzfdzjpj.jpg.html">![[Image: MINI%206%201992%20INTL%20SUTPHEN_zpshzfdzjpj.jpg]](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/fyreline/MINI%206%201992%20INTL%20SUTPHEN_zpshzfdzjpj.jpg)
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The Chief of Fire had asked me in the early 1990's, while I was still just a Lieutenant at Engine Company 7, if I would look into the matter and see what else we could do. I prepared a report for him based on what the Minis actually did - their mission had evolved almost entirely away from any actual fire fighting. I recommended something along the lines of the Ford Super Duty pickup chassis, with a Diesel/Automatic power train, a fiberglass utility body, and no pump or tank. We just didn't use them that way anymore. The SFD shops ordered a 1994 Chevrolet 4x4 chassis off of NYS Bid, and an Astoria fiberglass utility body, and built one themselves as a prototype for what the future of SFD "Minis" might be. They did a great job, and it was rotated around through different companies, and was equipped for EMS alarms with a minimum of other equipment - just a few hundred feet of 4" LDH in case a remote hydrant scouting mission was required. We knew we were on the right track when none of the companies that used it wanted to give it back. In its later years, this prototype for the new smaller SFD Minis was assigned to the HazMat Company as a spill control vehicle, and it is pictured in this assignment here:
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://s5.photobucket.com/user/fyreline/media/HAZ%20MAT%202_zpsdpzetm7p.png.html">![[Image: HAZ%20MAT%202_zpsdpzetm7p.png]](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/fyreline/HAZ%20MAT%202_zpsdpzetm7p.png)
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<a class="bbc_url" href="http://s5.photobucket.com/user/fyreline/media/MINI%206%201992%20INTL%20SUTPHEN_zpshzfdzjpj.jpg.html">
</a>The Chief of Fire had asked me in the early 1990's, while I was still just a Lieutenant at Engine Company 7, if I would look into the matter and see what else we could do. I prepared a report for him based on what the Minis actually did - their mission had evolved almost entirely away from any actual fire fighting. I recommended something along the lines of the Ford Super Duty pickup chassis, with a Diesel/Automatic power train, a fiberglass utility body, and no pump or tank. We just didn't use them that way anymore. The SFD shops ordered a 1994 Chevrolet 4x4 chassis off of NYS Bid, and an Astoria fiberglass utility body, and built one themselves as a prototype for what the future of SFD "Minis" might be. They did a great job, and it was rotated around through different companies, and was equipped for EMS alarms with a minimum of other equipment - just a few hundred feet of 4" LDH in case a remote hydrant scouting mission was required. We knew we were on the right track when none of the companies that used it wanted to give it back. In its later years, this prototype for the new smaller SFD Minis was assigned to the HazMat Company as a spill control vehicle, and it is pictured in this assignment here:
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://s5.photobucket.com/user/fyreline/media/HAZ%20MAT%202_zpsdpzetm7p.png.html">
</a>
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