The Seattle (WA) Fire Department’s Special Operations Unit was created in 1980 with the formation of the department’s Hazardous Materials Response Unit. Over the years, other specialized units were added, such as Marine 1, Rescue 1, Decontamination 1, and the Vault Response Group.
These special operations units are not intended as replacements for first-line engine and ladder companies but to complement them. The department has a variety of specialty equipment and apparatus used to augment general operations. Special operations units continually drill and train to keep their skills sharp. These units also participate in training other members of the fire department in various disciplines.
Before 1968, the department had been responding to numerous electrical vault fires throughout the city. It decided to have a specialty unit designated as a mobile CO2 response unit for these types of fires. The department designed a smaller unit that would be rechassis’d every 10 years. But, the body would remain the same size, basically limiting the amount of agent carried and also hose reach.
The department considered building a larger specialty unit to handle these types of fires for 25 years, according to Captain Chris Greene. “The department has had an increase in responding to these vault fires as electrical equipment gets older,” he says. “We wanted to build a bigger unit with greater capacity and extended reach that could be used in high-rise building fires, substations and chiller rooms, EV charging stations, as well as future use in maritime ship fires. Along with Rich Haggard, fleet manager for Seattle City Light, myself, and Dan Hays from Hughes Fire Equipment, a plan was put in place. We knew what the problems were and had put a concept of ideas for this new unit together.”
According to Greene, Seattle City Light funded the truck and its resources, which was a big help for the fire department’s budget. Seattle City Light also wanted a bigger vehicle to solve the problem and that would eventually save money by having better resources to fight these types of fires in a timely manner. “The new problem was finding a manufacturer to actually build what we had envisioned,” he adds.
The design the department developed was for a much bigger vehicle than it had been using. Seattle wanted more capacity, longer reach for the hose reels, more compartment space for tools, more portable extinguishers, and for it to be refilled at a scene. “It would be a challenge for any manufacturer to build,” says Greene. “It took roughly a year to really get things rolling, but Frontline Communications, a manufacturer owned by Oshkosh and Pierce, designed a unique rig to our liking.” Tomco, another manufacturer, built the large 11,000-pound storage vessel for CO2.
1 The Seattle (WA) Fire Department/Seattle City Light C-40 CO2 Vault Response Unit is built on a Freightliner M2-114SD crew cab chassis. (Photos courtesy of Frontline Communications.)
2 One of three 200-foot reels of 1.25-inch hose for disbursing CO2.
3 One of two banks of 24 10-pound CO2 extinguishers.
4 The unit’s 5.5-ton DOT steel skid tank of 11,000 pounds of CO2.
Vault Fire Response TruckThe Frontline Communications CO2 Vault Fire Response Truck includes a 19,900-pound CO2 vessel and 600 feet of 1.25-inch hose and is designed to extinguish underground electrical vault fires. It will flow 220 pounds of liquid CO2 per minute with a 34-psig pressure drop.
Vehicle Features
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5 The rear of the vehicle showing the rear hose reel and compartments for tools.
6 The driver’s side showing a hose reel, portable extinguishers, and large compartments.
Seattle (WA) Fire Department
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“The San Francisco (CA) Fire Department has a similar, but smaller, unit in operation,” says Greene, “and after our design came out, several other cities around the country have shown interest in this type of operation. Our cooperation with Seattle City Light really doesn’t exist any place else around the country that we know of. It really helped us a great deal getting this vehicle designed and funded.”
Greene explains that the the unit responds out of Station 25, which is where the department’s hazardous materials unit is based. All 44 hazardous materials firefighters/technicians will be cross trained on this new unit and its operation, and all the department’s chief officers will be trained on the unit’s operation and response capabilities.
The Seattle Fire Department along with Seattle City Light worked together with a manufacturer to design a highly specialized unit to respond to specific types of fires around the city. The design included more compartment space for future use as well as a larger capacity CO2 tank, additional portable fire extinguishers, and longer hose reels for better reach at the scene. Partnering with a local utility put the icing on the cake since it was completely funded by it.
Designing a specialized vehicle for your department can be a daunting challenge, but working together with various other fire departments, city officials, city departments, and mutual-aid companies might make it a lot easier for funding and cooperation. Always take into account your needs, target hazards, what you want the vehicle to accomplish, how you present it to various manufacturers, and how you are going to fund it. Proper planning is the essence of any new build. In today’s fire apparatus climate, be advised that building and delivering might take two to three years for completion. This is one element we didn’t have to worry about before.
BOB VACCARO has more than 40 years of fire service experience. He is a former chief of the Deer Park (NY) Fire Department. Vaccaro has also worked for the Insurance Services Office, the New York Fire Patrol, and several major commercial insurance companies as a senior loss-control consultant. He is a life member of the IAFC.
