Special Delivery
By Tony Lolli

Julesburg Steps Into 21st Century With Smeal Tanker
The Julesburg Volunteer Fire Department (JVFD), in northeastern Colorado recently upgraded its aging fleet with a 2007 Smeal 2,500-gallon tanker, a purchase made possible through a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant.

It was the second time the small, rural department has benefited from the federal grant program.
“Our first successful FEMA grant resulted in new bunker gear for each of the 22 members of our department,” said Toby Heath, a firefighter who is secretary/treasurer of the Julesburg Fire Board and is also the department’s grant committee chairman.

“When it came time to go after that first grant, I contacted the Sedgwick Fire Department’s grant writer,” he recalled. “He told me how to find opportunities on the internet and just to answer according to what they asked. When it came time to go after an apparatus grant, I just used that training for the FEMA tanker proposal.”

The specification committee studied the department’s needs and settled on a tanker. “The previous 1969 tanker really stood out as being in need of replacement because the rest of our apparatus averages 1980s vintage,” Heath said.

The old tanker was built on a 1969 GMC 2-ton chassis purchased from the town in the 1970s. A 1,000-gallon tank was bolted to that chassis.

Heath said specification committee members reviewed NFPA rules and contacted Smeal and E-ONE for proposals.

“We went with Smeal for two reasons,” he said. “Their price was $70,000 less than E-ONE’s. Also, Sharon Sells, the Mile-Hi Fire Apparatus sales representative, did a great job for us. She came down and listened to what we wanted. She then had blueprints drawn up and presented them to us. We went back and forth deciding what changes we wanted, and then we came to an agreement.”

The cost of the Smeal tanker was $276,630. Heath said the JVFD’s responsibility was for 5 percent of the total. “Our board has the authority to either go after local grants or levy a tax assessment for the $13,831.50,” he explained.

The Julesburg (Colo.) Volunteer Fire Department recently took delivery of a Smeal tandem axle tanker built on a Freightliner M2 cab and chassis. It has a Waterous 500-gpm pto pump and a 2,500-gallon UPF tank.                       (Smeal Photo)

Grant-Required Training
The 2007 Smeal was delivered last Nov. 17 and went in-service on Dec. 12. The grant required that JVFD be trained on the apparatus, and Kevin Sweeney, battalion chief from the Metro North Fire Department in Northglenn, Colo., was asked to provide operational training. Certified driver training was provided by Jim McKinsey, who works for Heavy Equipment Training Academy (HETA) in Julesburg.

“He trained us on the safety issues of driving that kind of truck both empty and full,” Heath said. “A commercial driver’s license (CDL) is not required to drive fire apparatus in Colorado.”

Department policy is that no one is allowed to drive the tanker unless they have either a CDL or were trained by McKinsey. “There are six of us in the department who have a CDL with tanker endorsement,” Heath said. “Our practice is that anyone with a tanker endorsement has first shot at driving.”

The new Smeal tanker met a number of safety concerns.

Five-Person Cab
“Unlike the old tanker, the Smeal has a five-person cab,” said Heath. “Before, we had guys on benches in the back of our quick response vehicles. Now, everyone rides in air pack seats and is ready to go as soon as they get out.”

And getting in and out of the Smeal is safer due to grab handles, he pointed out. “Also, this unit handles better over the ice,” he said. “The Smeal is more stable than the old tanker and brakes much better.”

In addition, he said the department’s drivers prefer the Smeal’s automatic transmission to the old standard transmission.

Operation of the new tanker is also far superior to the old one, according to Heath. “It has a power-take-off (pto) pump for off-loading to our quick response trucks via a swing arm mounted above the tank,” he said.

Another feature that was not available on the department’s old tanker is a fold-down portable tank rack. The portable tank has sufficient capacity to hold all the water in the tanker. If the rack is not up and in place, or, if any doors are open, a red light flashes in the cab.

“Deploying the folding tank could not be easier,” Heath said. “A single toggle switch operates the electric winch. Hold it down to lower the elevator, and hold it up to raise it.”

When dumping to the folding tank, he said the 10-inch dump valves fill it in a hurry. “We can dump 2,500 gallons in the same time it used to take us to dump 1,000 gallons,” he said.

Sharon Sell was the sales representative for Mile-Hi Fire Apparatus, Inc. in Commerce City, Colo.
For information call 888-637-3374 or go to www.milehifire.com.