New Champaign, IL Engine 151

[Guest]

One thing about central Illinois loyal Pierce depts. is they are learning the service is starting to somewhat lack anymore from the dealer, not to mention several of these depts. have underwent administration changes as of late and with that comes change. Our dept for one has a newer Pierce Contender, however since we are not or were not in the market for a $500K engine we are quickly forgotten about when we need something, oh and the bucket of parts that have fallen off, broke or whatever off of our Pierce doesn't help. Our 1992 E\-One is 10 times the engine our Pierce is, and have never had an issue with the dealer on it.

[firesafe91]

The new numbers are the new county-wide system that they went to a few years ago. Tom can tell you when, but the first number is the department number...so the 100 series is Champaign, 200 series is Urbana, I believe Willard Airport (U of I) is the 300s, etc. The middle number tells the unit type, not 100% on this, Tom correct me if I goof it up...

 

50s = engines

60s = ladders

70s = rescues

80s = reserves

90s = special units

 

Last number is station number. So you are correct Firesafe.

 

Champaign has only 2 frontline trucks at Stations 1 and 4, the tower ladder is at 1. They have a reserve aerial. I have never known them to run 3 trucks. You may be thinking back to when U of I had their own department and operated a truck company. Urbana has a truck co as well. The heavy rescue is still there out of Station 1.

 

The Tele-Squrt was replaced by the engine pictured above. Engine 151 is out of Station 1 and was the Tele-Squrt, which is now a reserve.

Thanks for the update on Champaign and the numbering system.

[CFD Adv207]

Hi D! I guess I type too slow...

 

I guess so, but you also answered some of what I couldn't! Filled in the gaps well and added where I was lacking.

[MFD76]

My dept in NY put bid out in 2000 for a new pumper and Central(Rosenbauer)  got the bid...as they did  in 2003 and 2012..... and believe you get what you paid for.  After working on these trucks I found them to be CHEAP!  Seem to be 4 times a month i was putting them OOS for repairs...and the trucks hardly moved off the floor

 

They are making an impact here in Kansas and Western Missouri mainly outside the Kansas City Metro Region. Most departments in our region take full advantage of HGAC purchasing to avert these issues.

 

As most of you know purchasing a fire engine, fire truck will be the best purchase for ten-twenty years or the worst purchase. You must be an informed consumer. We have found the HGAC Houston Galveston Area Purchasing Cooperative to be extremely beneficial. This has allowed our department to guarantee a competitive price and allow us to pick our fire apparatus maker. We no longer have to argue the lowest bid with the city or salesman. Most municipal governments can join and take advantage of HGAC. MARC Mid America Regional Counsel the bi-state agency for the Kansas City Metro -Kansas and Missouri oversees the HGAC for our region. 

 

I have generally found the departments that spec General Bodies are happier. I have found departments with Central Bodies have more problems. I talked at length with the local dealer and he said they always try to provide a General body, however he was insistent that some departments need the Central option due to budget. I know of one department that had some very problematic Central machines and then took delivery of a General. They could not believe the quality difference. However on the next machine was a Toyne. 

 

The other problem is with the Aerial's. No matter which body you choose, there have been numerous departments that have had issues with the Aerial Ladders. We looked at a demo a couple of years ago. The welds were very rough with the paint chipping and rust starting to show. There was a very noticeable difference in the ladder and platform construction compared to E\-One, Pierce, LTI, Sutphen, and Smeal aerials that I have had contact with. The salesman at the time dismissed my concerns. 

 

I also am not impressed with the Commander cab for a number of reasons. 

 

My friends in Fort Worth seemed to really like the General fire apparatus. They have been very complementary over the years and they own the full package of General to Rosen-General. However they have always in recent time purchased LTI and now Smeal Aerials. FWFD is very involved with the manufacturing process, a very tight spec, and the fire shop is specifically trained for the Spartan-Generals, ALF-LTI's, and Spartan-Smeals. This might also be the reason they have had less problems. 

[Roto-Ray]

Rick, a couple of points:

 

As someone who spent over a year to convince the purchasing departments in both counties I protect to use HGAC (this is the primary way we now purchase apparatus), it's worth mentioning the HGAC is not a competitively bid process.  Each manufacturer simply gives the HGAC folks a price to build a vehicle to meet the very generic specs that HGAC puts out every two years.  It's much like the GSA - nothing but a pricing schedule.

 

At work, we actually do a hybrid approach - we select 3 to 5 manufacturers to provide us a proposal and price on the vehicle(s) we're purchasing, but they're required to use the HGAC pricing schedule.  Because the manufacturers have so much leeway in the pricing when they're calculating the "unpublished options" (HGAC term), this keeps them more fair and honest.  This has created a far easier selection process for us.

 

Also, most people know that my VFD purchased a Rosenbauer Commander (EXT [Minnesota] body) in January, and we're really happy with the cab and chassis, so I'm always curious to see what other firefighters/engineers don't like about it?

 

Thanks bro...