Ford C Series Chassis Fire Apparatus

[GA_Dave]

Pottstown, Montgomery County PA

Empire Hook and Ladder

1980 3-D Ford C-8000 pumper 1000 GPM

This must have been taken after a refurb.  I photographed it many years ago with a different paint scheme.  It has a 500 gallon tank.

[IrishTruckie]

I like the chrome belly band.

[Guest]

Franktown Fire Protection District, Colorado

Engine 182

1983 Ford C / E\-One

   

[Guest]

   

[Frank B]

This must have been taken after a refurb.  I photographed it many years ago with a different paint scheme.  It has a 500 gallon tank.

I think this was as delivered, Black and white

[dyken]

1985 Ford Grumman FIrecat

1250/750

[hondok]

Arden FD, which I will guess is in California, ran this 1968 Ford C pumper. The pic ain't very good, but I thought the subject matter was neat. Check out the hose reels. I have no idea who built the interesting piece.
Mattson Collection

more next week....

Not sure who may have built this unit, but it appears to be a high-pressure fog pumper.  For you younger folks, the use of high-pressure fog for fire attack was a tactic that was big in the late 1950's into the mid 1960's and was developed and promoted by Lloyd Layman who was the "father of indirect attack".  This tactic worked well when you only had ordinary Class A combustibles burning, but the BTU production of burning plastics and other synthetic materials eventually negated the ability to fight a structural fire with booster lines because the volume of water fog needed to overcome the BTU production could not be achieved with the small diameter booster hose.

 

There were a number of apparatus manufacturers who offered high-pressure pumps during that time (either as the primary pump or as an auxiliary to the centrifugal pump) with John Bean/FMC being one of the more prominent apparatus builders.  If you look at the booster reels, it appears that they all have John Bean fog guns for nozzles.

 

Thought this would be a good way to revive this thread!

[Guest]

Not sure who may have built this unit, but it appears to be a high-pressure fog pumper.  For you younger folks, the use of high-pressure fog for fire attack was a tactic that was big in the late 1950's into the mid 1960's and was developed and promoted by Lloyd Layman who was the "father of indirect attack".  This tactic worked well when you only had ordinary Class A combustibles burning, but the BTU production of burning plastics and other synthetic materials eventually negated the ability to fight a structural fire with booster lines because the volume of water fog needed to overcome the BTU production could not be achieved with the small diameter booster hose.

 

There were a number of apparatus manufacturers who offered high-pressure pumps during that time (either as the primary pump or as an auxiliary to the centrifugal pump) with John Bean/FMC being one of the more prominent apparatus builders.  If you look at the booster reels, it appears that they all have John Bean fog guns for nozzles.

 

Thought this would be a good way to revive this thread!

IIRC, that rig was a Maxim and Hannay Reels used it in its advertising.There were a total of six reels on borad.   I used HPF on many fires, but never on interior attack.  If the PO did not watch what he was doing, the pressure could creep up to 800 PSI, making it difficult to open the nozzle.

[hondok]

IIRC, that rig was a Maxim and Hannay Reels used it in its advertising.There were a total of six reels on borad.   I used HPF on many fires, but never on interior attack.  If the PO did not watch what he was doing, the pressure could creep up to 800 PSI, making it difficult to open the nozzle.

Absolutely!  I remember as a young firefighter using a high pressure booster line on a brush fire and not being able to operate the Bean gun because I didn't have enough strength in my hand to overcome the pressure on the line until the PO opened the relief valve.

 

It's really interesting how things seem to go full circle in the fire service...sprinklers have been in use for many years for fixed building fire protection and now we have high and low pressure mist systems that are being used in place of sprinklers where inadequate water supply or concern for water damage exists.  Same Lloyd Layman principle, now just engineered and designed to ensure that the mist system can handle the BTU production of the specific hazard. 

[npfd801]

Absolutely!  I remember as a young firefighter using a high pressure booster line on a brush fire and not being able to operate the Bean gun because I didn't have enough strength in my hand to overcome the pressure on the line until the PO opened the relief valve.

 

It's really interesting how things seem to go full circle in the fire service...sprinklers have been in use for many years for fixed building fire protection and now we have high and low pressure mist systems that are being used in place of sprinklers where inadequate water supply or concern for water damage exists.  Same Lloyd Layman principle, now just engineered and designed to ensure that the mist system can handle the BTU production of the specific hazard. 

I'd never advocate for us to go interior with high pressure, but one of our engines has a high pressure pump (Rosenbauer) on it.  While there's many things I don't like about it, the high pressure for overhaul with some foam is pretty fantastic, and for field fires it also works very well.  It is amazing how far 500 gallons will go on a high pressure booster line on a corn field fire.  Not sure I'd buy another Rosenbauer pump, but there's some neat things high pressure can do.  i agree, everything seems to be cyclical. 

[1961MackC95]

1985 Ford C-Pierce 1000-1000 (Pierce Job # E-2646) Engine 2 Flint-Gresham, TX (ex Klein, TX)

Left Front View

Lindsay D
Richardson, TX

   

[1961MackC95]

1985 Ford C-Pierce 1000-1000 (Pierce Job # E-2646) Engine 2 Flint-Gresham, TX (ex Klein, TX)

Left Side View

Lindsay D
Richardson, TX

   

[1961MackC95]

1985 Ford C-Pierce 1000-1000 (Pierce Job # E-2646) Engine 2 Flint-Gresham, TX (ex Klein, TX)

Left Rear View

Lindsay D
Richardson, TX

   

[1961MackC95]

1985 Ford C-Pierce 1000-1000 (Pierce Job # E-2646) Engine 2 Flint-Gresham, TX (ex Klein, TX)

Rear View

Lindsay D
Richardson, TX

   

[1961MackC95]

1985 Ford C-Pierce 1000-1000 (Pierce Job # E-2646) Engine 2 Flint-Gresham, TX (ex Klein, TX)

Right Rear View

Lindsay D
Richardson, TX

   

[1961MackC95]

1985 Ford C-Pierce 1000-1000 (Pierce Job # E-2646) Engine 2 Flint-Gresham, TX (ex Klein, TX)

Right Side View

Lindsay D
Richardson, TX

   

[1961MackC95]

1985 Ford C-Pierce 1000-1000 (Pierce Job # E-2646) Engine 2 Flint-Gresham, TX (ex Klein, TX)

Right Front View

Lindsay D
Richardson, TX

   

[1961MackC95]

1985 Ford C-Pierce 1000-1000 (Pierce Job # E-2646) Engine 2 Flint-Gresham, TX (ex Klein, TX)

Front View

Lindsay D
Richardson, TX

   

[bennyk17]

1972 American Lafrance/Ford C800. 1250/650 Queensbury Central VFC Queensbury,NY

[battalion1b]

x-Engine 2, Dallas, GA

Ford C/F.M.C.

1000/750

Good evening sir,
This particular engine could also go in the "Once Is Not Enough" thread.  This engine originated from Douglas County Fire Department, Ga, possibly assigned to Station 3 Bill Arp community.  Dallas Volunteer Fire Department once had a 1958 Ford ALF, but that engine was totaled in a rollover crash around the year 1993.  DVFD purchased this Ford FMC from Douglas County to replace the '58 LaFrance.