Firebuff, thanks for the Oakland rig, that is a new photo to me, and I believe the only one in color. I grew up in Oakland and remember seeing that rig as a young child (at least I think it was that one, I believe it was Oaklands only Snorkel).
[quote name='gileng4' date='11 January 2010 - 12:07 PM' timestamp='1263239266' post='357863']
How come west coast fire trucks seem pretty boring, no bells and whistles ( mars lights, roto rays, chrome bells) not saying they are ugly just plain.
[/quote]
To add to the comments of the others, in the west we don't really have the volunteer culture of the East coast. Volunteer departments are volunteer because that is all they can afford. The career departments buy good quality equipment but not a lot of extras because they are paying salaries, many of the VFD's are lucky to keep fuel in the rigs at times.
On the east coast you have volunteer departments in communities that could afford career departments but instead reward the volunteers with stuff (extra bling on the rigs, fancy stations etc). I really can not think of a west coast version of Mt Horeb, PG or the various Long Island departments.
Salaries out here for the career guys tend to be higher too, from what I understand, so more money goes into staffing leaving less for non-essential items. Many of the big cities out out here ran commercial cab apparatus through the 90s, because they were more economical. I think a lot of these cities started buying Quantums and such because of the tech and housing boom freeing up purse strings. It will be interesting to see if some of these cities start looking at commercial cabs again due to the economy.
[quote name='gileng4' date='11 January 2010 - 12:07 PM' timestamp='1263239266' post='357863']
How come west coast fire trucks seem pretty boring, no bells and whistles ( mars lights, roto rays, chrome bells) not saying they are ugly just plain.
[/quote]
To add to the comments of the others, in the west we don't really have the volunteer culture of the East coast. Volunteer departments are volunteer because that is all they can afford. The career departments buy good quality equipment but not a lot of extras because they are paying salaries, many of the VFD's are lucky to keep fuel in the rigs at times.
On the east coast you have volunteer departments in communities that could afford career departments but instead reward the volunteers with stuff (extra bling on the rigs, fancy stations etc). I really can not think of a west coast version of Mt Horeb, PG or the various Long Island departments.
Salaries out here for the career guys tend to be higher too, from what I understand, so more money goes into staffing leaving less for non-essential items. Many of the big cities out out here ran commercial cab apparatus through the 90s, because they were more economical. I think a lot of these cities started buying Quantums and such because of the tech and housing boom freeing up purse strings. It will be interesting to see if some of these cities start looking at commercial cabs again due to the economy.
Aaron Woods
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