Minnesota Apparatus

[grubber33270]

St Paul Park Mn is in Washington county just south and east of st paul. They Run out of one fire station. and are currently in the process of replaceing Engine 3154 and Rescue 3152. with a combination rescue pumper



Chief 1









Engine 3152





Engine 3153





Engine 3154





Rescue 3152





Tanker 3157





Brush 3155





Boat

[grubber33270]

Cottage Grove Mn Fire Station 2 Apparatus



Engine 45 (due for Replacement in 2012)











Cottage Grove Ladder 26





Cottage Grove Mobile Command.





Cottage Grove Brush 28

[grubber33270]

Inver Grove Heights Mn



Chief 1







Engine 33





Ladder 30

[grubber33270]

Eagan Engine 6 1988 Peterbuilt there were 4 of these in the fleet now there are currently 2 left.

[grubber33270]

Lakeville Mn Dakota County, Caught these units at a fire on 4-28-2010. by the time we got there fire was out so only apparatus photos we were able to get, here they go.





Lakeville Chief 1





Lakeville Fire Marshall





Lakeville Tower 1





Lakeville Engine 3





Lakeville Engine 3





Lakeville Rescue 3







Lakeville Engine 44





Lakeville Ladder 4





Lakeville Ladder 4





Alina New Ambulance Former ALF Ambulance.

[grubber33270]

Lake Johanna is located in Northern Ramsey County.



Chief 1





Chief 2.





Engine 3.





Engine 3.





Ladder 3.





Utility 3.





Engine 4.





Ladder 4.





Ladder 4.





Utility 4.

[grubber33270]

Roseville Is located is Northern Ramsey county just south of Lake Johanna.



Engine 11.





Engine 31.





Engine 31.





Ladder 38





Engine 32





Engine 32







Medic 5

[grubber33270]

Spring Lake Park Blaine Moundsview fire is located in anoka County.



Engine 8





Engine 8

[grubber33270]

Fridley is Located north of Minneapolis in Anoka county.



Engine 3.





Engine 3.





Engine 3.





Aerial 2.





Aerial 2.





Aerial 2.





Rescue 3.





Rescue 3.

[grubber33270]

Coon Rapids is side by side with Blaine, and north west of Fridley in anoka county.



Engine 1.





Grass 1.





Engine 2.





Aerial 2





Aerial 2

[BFD1151]

This may have been answered before, but I'm wondering why the Peterbilt and Volvo chassis with the enclosed "penalty box" seating area/pump panel are so popular in Minnesota? Any insight?

[Guest]

[quote name='BFD1151' date='30 April 2010 - 09:50 AM' timestamp='1272634241' post='379206']

This may have been answered before, but I'm wondering why the Peterbilt and Volvo chassis with the enclosed "penalty box" seating area/pump panel are so popular in Minnesota? Any insight?

[/quote]



Visit them some winter.

[BFD1151]

[quote name='WAGONMAN' date='30 April 2010 - 10:12 AM' timestamp='1272635559' post='379210']

Visit them some winter.

[/quote]



I kinda figured that was the reasoning for the enclosed pump panel, I guess my question is geared more towards the chassis. Any reason as to the big Peterbilt, Ford, or Volvo chassis as opposed to a custom chassis engine? Tradition? Cheaper? Or some other reason?

[Guest]

Micah: The enclosed top mount pump is the only way to go in the winter. As far as the commercial cab & chassis, yes I think it was a cost issue for most departments, although I can't tell you if it is the same issue. We are seeing some departments moving to custom chassis, and some moving back to commercial. We have talked to a couple Chiefs who have indicated that it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify a Custom chassis. I have been told that a well equipped Gladiator chassis is approaching $200,000.



Also the winter issue is big around here, as well as other areas of the country. Trucks are built with pump compartment heaters and some departments keep the water circulating when outside in the winter, whether they are actively pumping or not.

[usonian55077]

[quote name='BFD1151' date='30 April 2010 - 09:31 AM' timestamp='1272636674' post='379211']

I kinda figured that was the reasoning for the enclosed pump panel, I guess my question is geared more towards the chassis. Any reason as to the big Peterbilt, Ford, or Volvo chassis as opposed to a custom chassis engine? Tradition? Cheaper? Or some other reason?

[/quote]



Here's a little more, adding on to John's statement.



There is a tradition component to it all as well. For many years, the Upper Midwest Fire Apparatus Market was dominated by a handful of regional builders, most notably General Safety, Inc. of North Branch, MN (now part of Rosenbauer). In a story not unlike the Pierre Thibault/Pierville family schism, CustomFire, Inc. was born in the late 1970's and both companies prospered and continue to thrive.



Owing to our challenging winters, crew enclosures started appearing in the 1960's, with the Saint Paul FD utilizing the infamous "telephone booth" enclosure on their Ford C/General Safety rigs. Minneapolis had been specifying fully enclosed sedan cabs since the late 1940's on their Pirsch, WLF, and Mack rigs, so when they made their first move away to commercial chassis in the early 1970's, it was natural they would specify 4 door cabs on the Ford L's.



It has been suggested that Saint Paul started specifying Ford chassis in the 1960's as an homage to the Ford Plant located in the city. But, by the 1970's Ford L chassis became a mandate from both Saint Paul and Minneapolis city beancounters. Whatever chassis manufacturer won the bid for city municipal heavy equipment (e.g. Snowplows, Refuse Haulers, etc.) dictated on which chassis the next batch of fire apparatus would be built. This is why, until the last decade or so, Saint Paul has had a mix of Ford L, Volvo, and Sterling rigs, and Minneapolis with Ford L, International S, and Freightliner apparatus.



Like in so many metropolitan areas, suburban departments adapted whatever was working for the big cities, and General & CustomFire built very durable bodies on these commercial chassis...as did Saint Paul, Minneapolis, General & CustomFire went, so did much of the region.



The Peterbilt chassis tradition has another origin. In the 1970's, the south metro suburb of Burnsville had the only combined Police/Fire/EMS Public Safety Department in the state, which was a source of pride. In fact, Burnsville's annual community celebration is the Burnsville Fire Muster. Out of this pride (and the fact that over-the-road trucking was a cultural fixation in the 1970's, a la "Smokey & The Bandit", etc.), Burnsville specified two pumpers to be built by General Safety on Peterbilt conventional chassis, with their stylish Super Chief body and complete with the Telephone Booth (by this time marketed by General as "The St. Paul Cab"). These were, by far, the flashiest pieces of firefighting equipment in the state and got a lot of notice, even a 1/25 model kit of these rigs was produced. Burnsville later went on to purchase two more Peterbilts, this time built by CustomFire. Neighboring Eagan ordered 4 Peterbilt/CustomFire pumpers in the 1980's (as Josh photographed above), and then the Peterbilts just kept popping up everywhere...Prior Lake, Lakeville, Golden Valley, St. Louis Park, Cottage Grove, just to name a few.



Though industry-spec chassis (Spartan, HME, etc.) are becoming the norm, Rosenbauer & CustomFire still have a good share of the market here. All of Saint Paul's Spartans were built by CustomFire. Pierce is making some serious inroads in this part of the country, but except for a few oddball ALF's and E-Ones here & there, that's our scene.

[BFD1151]

Vey interesting reading. Thanks for the explaination!

[grubber33270]

South Metro Mn Fire Department Combination Department in Dakota County between South St Paul and West St Paul, they run there own BLS ambulance Service and have 2 stations.



Station 1 is located in West St Paul.



Engine 1





Engine 1





Engine 1





Ladder 1.





Engine 12







Ambulance 12





Chief 1





Chief 2

[grubber33270]

Not sure the unit number over the radio for this is but it has on the side Engine 6















Dakota County Special Operations Team Unit Truck and Trailer. The Truck is at Station 1, and Mass Casuality Trailer is at Station 2.

[grubber33270]

and Station 2 Units. for South Metro (South St Paul Statio)



Engine 2.















Ladder 2.













Engine 22.





Ambulance 2









Ambulance 22









Utility 2





Boat 2

[grubber33270]

St Pauls West Side Station Station 6



Engine 6











Engine 15











Utility 6





Boat 15