
The Johnston Fire Department runs four engines, one aerial ladder, and three ambulances out of four stations protecting the town of Johnston, Rhode Island, with 93 paid full-time firefighters responding to 8,000 calls annually. When it came time to replace a 2015 aerial ladder, Johnston chose to go with a Smeal rig to satisfy the department’s particular needs.
Dave Iannuccilli, Johnston’s fire chief, notes that the department was having difficulties with its existing aerial ladder, especially with high maintenance and repair costs. “When you only have one ladder in service and it goes out of service, it’s difficult to operate without the ladder,” Iannuccilli observes. “We had to call out of town ladders in to assist us. “After we got the OK to purchase a new truck, we went to Smeal and told them we wanted a meat and potatoes type truck that could do the work we required.”
Tim Burkhart, regional sales manager for Spartan Emergency Response, says that Johnston purchased a 105-foot Smeal rearmount heavy duty aerial ladder with no pump or water tank, built on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and four door cab, and powered by a 500-horsepower (hp) Cummins X12 engine, and an Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission. Wheelbase on the aerial ladder is 225 inches, overall length is 41 feet 8 inches, and overall height is 11 feet 7 inches.
Burkhart points out the aerial ladder has an electric positional waterway that can be pinned to the fly section of the aerial or the outer mid-aerial section, and with a cam lock on it that can switch it from fire suppression mode to rescue mode. He says the rope rescue system at the tip of the aerial uses a pulley system and tie-off plate that clamps to the aerial, and allows the ropes to be worked from the turntable.
James Feehan, president of New England Fire Equipment & Apparatus Corp., who sold the aerial ladder to Johnston Fire, says this Smeal has a 100-foot horizontal reach, a 750-pound tip load with no restrictions, and a 500-pound tip load using the 1,250 gallon-per-minute (gpm) Akron Streammaster™ II monitor on the pinnable waterway. “Their rope rescue system allows the department to use the aerial for either elevated or below grade rescue,” Feehan points out. “And to cut down on the truck’s setup time, they had the auxiliary outrigger plates that distribute the load attached to the stabilizers.”
Feehan says the Smeal aerial uses a rotational interlock system that is standard on all Smeal aerial ladders. “They can operate in a short jacked configuration if necessary,” he notes, “with the rotational interlock determining the short jack spread. That’s important in a city with tight streets and lots of parked cars because it allows the operator to drop one stabilizer straight down on the non-working side, and a fully extended stabilizer on the operational side.”
Feehan adds that the Johnston aerial ladder also has the Smart Smeal collision avoidance system that keeps the aerial from impacting the truck’s cab or body. “Also, the aerial can be operated from a minus 6 degrees to a plus 72 degrees,” Feehan observes. He says the rig carries Duo-Safety ground ladders in a slide-in compartment, including a 35-foot 3-section extension ladder, a 28-foot 2-section extension, a 24-foot 2-section extension, 18-foot and 16-foot roof ladders, a 14-foot Fresno attic ladder, and a 10-foot folding attic ladder, along with four D-handle pike poles of 12 feet, 8 feet, and two six footers. There’s a 17-foot Little Giant ladder on top of the body, a 14-foot roof ladder on the base of the aerial, and a 6-foot New York roof hook on the fly section.
Lighting on the Johnston aerial ladder includes Whelen LED warning lights, a Whelen LED lightbar, and Whelen LED scene lighting.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.