Members of my VFD traveled to Wyoming, Minnesota last week to complete the pre-construction conference on the Rosenbauer Commander extruded pumper that we recently signed a contract for. It was amazing to see how much busier the plant was since my last visit about 18 months ago. I suppose when you sell over 500 new chassis in less than a year, that's to be expected.
This was truly a working trip, not just sightseeing, so I don't have quite as many photos as I would on some of my previous trips. All of the photos were taken with my throw-down point-and-shoot camera and my Driod phone.
First up are two new pumpers for Apopka, FL. The department had Darley special-build them a 3-stage pump for these, which will be used to help supply the massive amount of booster line that they run. They also feature four CAFS-equipped crosslays.
Taylor Goodman Captain - Henrico County (VA) Division of Fire Fire Chief - Huguenot VFD, Powhatan, VA
Well, I got permission to post any pics of the Baltimore tiller that I took. Unfortunately, it was a very large rig inside a tight area, so I don't have much for you all. Unfortunately, I was in a meeting when the rig was outside being photographed.
Taylor Goodman Captain - Henrico County (VA) Division of Fire Fire Chief - Huguenot VFD, Powhatan, VA
Quote:Clear Creek, CO had about 10 of these urban-interface pumpers under construction.
Thanks for posting these. Clear Creek purchased 9 identical rigs, 1 for each of the fire stations in the county. These will compliment 3 Rosenbauer quints ordered a couple years ago.
You know from what I hear Rosenbauer is building some pretty solid rigs. There is a lot of talk floating around work about buying a Rosenbauer for the next Engine. I guess time will tell. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
The stuff coming out of Minnesota is absolutely top notch. The quality of the body they build is second to none, and I would put what they're putting on the street up against anyone's product. I'm too far detached from what is coming out of South Dakota any more to have an opinion, but it was not the same caliber that General was doing in Minnesota when I sold the stuff. Of course there is a price difference.
We have two rigs from General and I'm confident both bodies will well outlive their chassis. One is eight, the other is seven years old.
03-02-2013, 07:30 PM (This post was last modified: 03-02-2013, 07:31 PM by Roto-Ray.)
I'm with Joel. I would put the bodies coming out of the Minnesota plant up against anyone's construction at any time. I've been around this industry for a long time (and have visited a lot of factories), and I feel strongly that we'll be taking delivery of one of the most finely constructed rigs I've had the pleasure of riding. I know that it was an eye-opening experience for several of our committee members as well, and we left with ZERO regrets that Rosenbauer won the competitive bid. While their parent company might be the largest manufacturer in the world, their factory staff was as approachable and easy to work with as a small regional builder.
I have very little exposure to the South Dakota bodies, so I can't really comment on those.
Here's an idea of the extruded bodies they're using. Note the roll-up drum location, which gives you complete use of the upper compartment without the drum protruding into the clear compartment opening.
Taylor Goodman Captain - Henrico County (VA) Division of Fire Fire Chief - Huguenot VFD, Powhatan, VA
One of the things we really liked about the extruded construction was the fact that they allow for recessed shelf mounting, recessed compartment lights, recessed wiring & harnesses, and in our case, we'll have adjustable floor-mounted dividers for spare hose on the D1 compartment without the use of additional hardware.
This photo shows the wiring in the passenger side rear bulkhead.
The attention to detail we found on the rigs was superb.
Taylor Goodman Captain - Henrico County (VA) Division of Fire Fire Chief - Huguenot VFD, Powhatan, VA
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