Mount Gretna (PA) Community Volunteer Fire Company covers the less-than-one square mile borough of Mount Gretna and the townships of West Cornwall and South Annville, as well as several miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike from a single station with 20 volunteer firefighters and five fire police. The fire company wanted to replace a 1993 Spartan engine it purchased secondhand, and a 2001 Ford F-550 rescue truck/medical unit, and decided to have E-ONE build it a new rescue-pumper to fulfill the responsibilities of the two older rigs.
“We didn’t have a lot of money set aside for the new rescue-pumper, but we were able to raise more than $700,000 in 18 months to purchase the rig,” says Travis Haak, Mount Gretna’s fire chief. “South Annville and West Cornwall raised their annual contributions, but most of the contributions came from the public, as well as people leaving the fire company money in their wills, an art show we sponsor each year, and a grant from Bank of America.”
Haak says the rescue-pumper is built on an E-ONE Cyclone chassis and extended cab with a Vista roof and a stainless steel body, with seating for eight firefighters, with seven of them in self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) seats. He notes the driver’s SCBA is located in a left side compartment, and that all firefighters have FireCom headsets at their seating positions, and the driver and officer headsets are wireless.
Mike Jamison, sales manager for Fire Line Equipment, who sold the E-ONE rig to Mount Gretna, points out the rescue-pumper is powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 engine and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission, and has an E-ONE eMAX 1,500 gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump, and an UPF Poly® 780-gallon water tank. Wheelbase on the rig is 224 inches, overall length is 34 feet 7 inches, and overall height is 10 feet 4 inches.
Jamison says the rig has 150-feet of 1-3/4-inch hose in a front bumper line, a 5-inch intake on the front bumper, two 200-foot 1-3/4-inch hose crosslays, and in the hosebed, 1,500 feet of 5-inch large diameter hose (LDH), 300 feet of 2-1/2-inch hose, and 300 feet of 3-inch hose preconnected and tipped with a Task Force Tips Blitzfire nozzle.
Haak notes that the fire company designed the rescue-pumper for future growth, so the rig has nine compartments and four coffin compartments, with full height and depth compartments on both sides. “We wanted to have enough space to add more equipment as necessary,” Haak observes. “The coffin compartments hold our water and rope rescue equipment, hazardous materials equipment, and other not-often-used gear.”
He continues, “Compartments on the side of the rescue-pumper hold our AMKUS Rescue Systems battery operated tools that consist of two cutters, one spreader, a combi tool, and two rams. We also have a compartment that holds two RamFan fans, two electric chain saws, two electric drills, two electric drivers, a circular say, and four Sawzall units.”
Jamison adds that the E-ONE rescue-pumper’s lighting complement includes a Will-Burt Night Scan Chief NS2.3 light tower with 12-volt Night Scan XL200 LED light heads, and a Whelen LED emergency lighting package.
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.
