New LA County Apparatus Provides Higher Performance and Cost Savings

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For the past six months, the Fleet Services Division has been hard at work fabricating and delivering six new tractor-drawn quints and 15 new triple combination engine pumpers to our fire stations that will not only outperform previous apparatus but also provide our Department with significant cost savings. These major improvements were made possible through Fleet Services' and the Apparatus Committee's willingness to reevaluate our vehicles' prior specifications, consider new proven fabrication methods in the trucking industry and factor in comments received from field personnel. "Our main focus for these specifications was to take a step back and identify the consistent problems we have experienced with current apparatus," said Fleet Services Division Chief Craig Weeks. "Even those that may seem insignificant were not ignored and innovative ideas were employed to solve those problems."

Among the enhancements is an improved air suspension system with a 100 percent off-highway duty rating. This smaller system makes room for a 70-gallon fuel tank, a 20-gallon increase over prior apparatus. New high-speed power take off road pumps were also installed to provide water pressure of 250 gallons per minute, more than double the previous 85 gallon per minute rating. A "Clean Idle Certified" 425-horsepower, nine-liter diesel engine in the pumpers meets the County's "Going Green" initiative in meeting air quality emission standards, and the matching transmission is 1,300 pounds lighter than previous units. The improved weight to horsepower ratio provides better performance and improved fuel economy that will provide any strike team with a potential driving range of 400 miles. "This will help our Department save on market fuel rates because strike teams have to fuel up at local gas stations when they are out of county," says Weeks. "That's a huge cost offset during major incidents." Heat resistant plastic air and fuel hoses have also reduced weight and improved serviceability for mechanics, mitigating downtime.

Other features of these new apparatus include an electric driveline retarder to cool engine temperature. High engine heat is a byproduct of modifications to engines that are required to meet air quality emission legislation. But while manufacturers thought to control heat by increasing the size of the cooling system, our personnel had the innovative idea to remove heat generating components, such as the transmission retarder.

"We look at things from a very different perspective," says Weeks. "Our Department is very unique in the respect of amount of distance we respond to. We have fire stations in the desert where they average a 30-40 minute response, whereas other Fire Departments are within 5-10 minutes of an incident. A larger cooling system would not work for our needs." A light emitting diode (LED) emergency lighting package and 320-amp alternator compensate for the electrical system loads created by the driveline retarder. These ideas were noticed by other fire departments that have since made change orders to their own apparatus specifications since learning of our designs.

Three of these new quints are now in service at Fire Stations 29, 33 and 159, and six engines are now in service at Fire Stations 44, 93, 108, 136, 149 and 167. Feedback from the field has been highly positive and the vehicles have performed superbly. An additional two quints and 12 pumpers are currently under construction and expected to begin delivery later this year.

Republished with permission of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. View original article here.



Author:Los Angeles County Fire Department