Straight Stick 125-Foot Ladder Proves Its Worth

Special Delivery
By Tony Lolli
Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Magazine

The Warminster (Pa.) Fire Department's 2008 125-foot rear-mount Smeal aerial is built on a Spartan Gladiator Classic LFD chassis.

A key consideration, according to Warminster Chief Mitch Shapiro, was the Ann's Choice retirement community, which was expanding.

Ann's Choice has 19 buildings on 103 acres with more than 19,000 residents, and Shapiro said the department's trucks are unable to get close to the buildings because of the layout. "The way they built fire access roads, parking lots and grassy areas on their grounds, we were able to reach only a minimal amount of the windows on the upper floors," he said.

The department's truck committee determined that a 125-foot ladder would be able to reach 90 percent of the upper windows, compared with just 40 percent using the 105-foot ladder. "We needed the reach, rather than the height," he said.

Bryan Smeal, a regional sales director with the apparatus maker, said one of the design requirements was that the aerial have the same capabilities as the company's other ladder models. It had to be able to carry 500 pounds at the tip at 0 degrees while flowing 1,250 gpm with the monitor perpendicular to ladder structure.

He said Smeal has seven other 125-foot ladders in service with two more about to be built, but all the others were specified as quints with a pump.

Warminster did not order a pump or a tank for the Smeal, which was built on a Spartan Gladiator Classic LFD chassis.

"The loss of ground ladder storage and compartments was the reason for not going with a pump and tank or a quint," said Shapiro. "We don't have a problem with manpower, so we could go with this design." The department has 70 volunteers.

Shapiro said the aerial's primary mission is fire and rescue. "You put a quint on the road and you lose storage," he said. "It has never been a problem with this or the previous aerial as far as having water at a fire so we decided to go with what's always worked for us."

The Smeal has a piped waterway with monitor. "Our area is fully hydrant," Shapiro said. "We have engines in all three stations, so we wanted this truck to perform fire and rescue operations, not flow water."

The department's 10-square-mile service area is 10 miles north of Philadelphia. In an average year it handles 800 calls. Shapiro described Warminster as a bedroom community with a mix of residential areas, including low-income housing, apartment houses, senior communities and single-family dwellings.

Warminster's population is approximately 36,000. It has schools, a community hospital, strip malls, industrial facilities, a major thoroughfare, railroad lines, gas pipelines and the Willow Grove Naval Air Station.

Shapiro said the new Smeal demonstrated its value at a recent house fire, where members of the department had to go defensive. The house was set back down a hillside and was lower than the elevation of the road. The ladder was extended below level from the road to its maximum reach and was able to direct an elevated stream to the dwelling. A shorter ladder would not have been able to reach, he said.

The 2008 Smeal cost $789,000 and went in to service on Sept. 1 of last year after training provided by the manufacturer.

Dwayne Shellhamer, president of Shellhamer Emergency Equipment Inc. Breinigsville, Pa was the sales representative. He can be reached at 610-398-3632 or at www.shellhameremergency.com.

2008 Smeal 125-Foot Aerial
Dimensions
• 242-inch wheelbase
• 12 feet, 6 inches high
• 49 feet long
• 100 inches wide

Chassis/Cab
• Spartan Gladiator Classic LFD
• 21,500 pound front axle rating
• 60,000 pound tandem rear axle rating
• Gross vehicle weight 81,500 pounds
• Detroit Series 60 515-hp engine
• Allison 4000EVS transmission
• Smeal Lap Doors
• Seating for six
• Anti-lock brakes and ATC roll protection

Aerial Device
• 125-foot heavy-duty rear-mount ladder with piped waterway

Other Features
• 30 kilowatt SMART Power hydraulic generator
• Transverse compartments with 100 percent extension trays
• TFT M-ER monitor and Akron straight tips
• Weldon V-MUX multiplex electrical system
• Ground ladders: two 35-foot extension; three 28-foot extension; one 20-foot roof; one 18-foot roof; two 16-foot roof ; one 10-foot attic; one Little Giant Type 1AA
• Storage for technical rescue equipment including high angle, water rescue and hydraulic rescue tools
• Ramsey 9,000-pound winch
• Akron Brass Stream Master deck pipe
• Federal Q-2 siren
• Power Call DX6 200-watt siren
• Two 200-foot Hannay electric cord reels
• Cribbing
• Stokes rescue basket
• Six Kwik-Raze Magna-Fire 750-watt tripod lights
• Six Kwik-Raze Magna-Fire 750-watt portable lights
• Two Kwik-Raze Magna-Fire 750-watt brow lights
• Two Audiovox cameras, one rear and one above officer’s door

Cost: $789,000