Kansas City area fire apparatus

[MFD76]

[quote name='JM82' timestamp='1325693380' post='469889']

That's a shame that the chief took no input from the firefighters who would be assigned to this rig. I can understand the "good deal" he allegedly got and the ISO thing, but still! The chief should always get input from the personnel who will actually be operating the apparatus being spec'd. But we know that doesn't always happen. Obviously.



So, at the very least what these firefighters assigned to this truck can do now is to learn to live with it, train until they feel comfortable operating an aerial with a pump, since it's a new concept for them, improvise due to the loss of compartment space, and maybe they'll end up liking this rig. To not take full advantage of this quint would be a mistake. Just my opinion.



All things taken into consideration, I would rather have an aerial ladder with a pump and hose, simply because of the "what if" syndrome. Though it could be a one in a thousand chance, "what if" the above truck was first in on a working house fire with persons trapped because the nearest engine company is out on an EMS run and the second-in engine is still several minutes away? Now they've got water and a line that they can stretch and begin search and rescue and possible extinguishment, or at least get a good knock down on the fire. With a dry truck they're S.O.L.!



Yeah, we could "what if" this all day, but in the end I would rather have a pump, 300 gallons of water, and hose on an aerial device. Having almost 30 years in the fire service I can appreciate tradition and what it means with the "dry truck vs. a quint" argument. Pride in being a truckie means their truck is dry, that that's what engine companies are for. At least that's what some truckies will tell you.



There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of rig. Make the best with what ya got!



BTW, why doesn't the KCKFD place larger company numbers, for example, in the middle of the rear doors of the cabs, like several other departments do? Those tiny white numbers and letters on the lower corner of the cab's front doors don't do their rigs any justice.

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The some of the older KCK Seagraves and ALF's had Pumper 1 Snorkel 1 on the doors or jump seat and KCKFD opposite. The annexed rigs from Shawnee TWP in the late 1960's never had numbers even though they were Pumper 16 and Pumper 17. The 1978 Pierce Fire Marshals had small numbers on the doors just No.1 under the KCKFD. The 1984 Pierce Suburbans and Pierce Arrows came with foil Maltese-crosses and small white No. 1 and No.1 with no indicator of Pumper or Truck. In the 1990's they added the P and T with number. My guess would be it is easier to reassign a company which KCKFD did quite a lot when they were purchasing rigs regularly. I remember the 1975 ALF Pacemaker 100ft DRY Aerial made its way from Truck 1, Truck 2, Truck 19 before it became Reserve Truck. I even heard it served at old Truck 3 for a while. When it was in reserve it still carried T19 on the door.



KCFD on the other had used the small chrome plated brass plaque and it was mounted ahead of the KCFD on the Open cab Pumpers and Trucks and it was mounted between the cab windows and jump seat windows on the closed cab rigs. These were moved from rig to rig as the companies received new rigs. Sadly they started diapering in the 1990's mainly on the Ford E-Ones and by 1997 they were completely removed from the new fleet of E-Ones. Around 1995 KCFD tried large numbers but they did not stick. I remember Pumper 8 in the Classic ALF Century White over Red rolling with the big P8 on the door and the ugly Box Car E\-One Hurricane at 23 Pumper rolling with a black P23 on the front doors of their white over lime pumper. In 2005 the local dealer had the number plaques recreated and they are now on all the rigs although not brass.



Rick