Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Very good set, Vince.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Beautiful images Vince - well done!

skylinefirepest Loc: Southern Pines, N.C.

Beautiful...the last one bought around here required one and a quarter mil...and that was about five years ago. Wonder what this one cost the taxpayers? You pretty much really have to have one of these if you have any tall buildings in your district. Our county has the same money problems as anywhere in the country but we've managed to maintain a very reasonable collection of equipment. Volunteers are really hard to come by all over the country now and about seventy percent of all fire departments are considered volunteer or mixed. The money is the problem with some cities cutting manpower on a truck to three instead of four...problem is that then you can't follow the "two in-two out" safety measure and have to wait for more help before making a good inside attack on the fire. We can go in if there's a life hazard but if you're short handed it's a major risk.

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Thank you very much.

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Thank you very much Earnest.

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Thank you very much Bill.

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Thank you very much for looking and commenting. It was a little over a million dollars, and was paid for in full, no bond taken. Our Fire District has the lowest tax rate of the three fire departments in our town, also one of the lowest in the county for a department of its size. We have three engines, one heavy rescue, one tanker, one brush truck, one EMS fly car, and three chiefs cars, plus the new Quint. A $2 mil + renovation to the fire station was finished last year, and that was paid in full once completed. Our District commissioners manage the yearly budget expertly. Money is put away each year for apparatus replacement, building fund, grounds, maintenance, etc., and when something is needed it is paid for. We have never had to take a loan or a bond to purchase anything.

But we do suffer from the same issues facing most volunteer departments today, and that is manpower... both attracting, recruiting, and maintaining volunteer firefighters. Years ago, there were people waiting in line to join. When I joined in 1972, there were 12 of us joining at the same time, the largest group to ever sign up at one time. But times have changed since then. Now both husband and wives work, and the kids seem to be involved in multiple activities that the parents take part in too. Plus, being three counties north of NYC, we have a lot more commuters that live here and work there instead of locals living and working here as in the past.

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

Fantastic set Vince. I love fire trucks as do all of our grandchildren. I remember taking our then 2 1/2 year old granddaughter to the local farmer's market where the Fire Dept always displays some of their apparatus. Two little boys were kicking the tires as little boys do and Hailey yelled at them "don't kick him!!!". Thank God for Truck 54 and others like him for protecting us while Northern California burns. Thank you for posting and for the great job you and your colleagues do!
Mark

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RKL349 Loc: Connecticut

Loved your pictures of the Quint. Many years ago I was a volunteer for about 15 years. In those days, we were partial to American LaFrance Pumpers and Ladder Trucks, no longer in production. Pierce Apparatus seems to be the gold standard today, and perhaps Sutphen.

Golfnut

I'm retired from a fire dept in Los Angeles County. I finished the last 8 years as a BC in charge of apparatus and converted our fleet from Emergency One (made in Florida) to Pierce (made in Appleton, WI as you mentioned).
We bought a 100' quint very similar to yours in 2005 at a cost of $924,000 - roughly twice the cost of a fire engine. Ours has a platform at the tip that can hold 3 personnel. I can't imagine what they're up to now.

merrytexan Loc: georgia

interesting narrative and really awesome shots of that impressive fire truck, vince. the dls are great!

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Thank you very much Mark for looking, commenting and the photo you posted. Kids do love fire trucks. I grew up pretty much in my fire department. My grandfather was a charter member, and my grandmother and mother were charter members of the Ladies Auxiliary. Back then, there was no 911 to call in an emergency. When people had an emergency in our fire district, they dialed a local number specifically for our fire department, which then rang six "fire phones" in members of our fire departments homes in our fire district that were all less than a 1/4 mile from the fire station. Someone would answer the phone, get the info such as the address, type of call, etc. Each of those six homes had a button next to the phone that they would use to set off the siren on top of the building. Then they would get to the fire station, and on a chalkboard write down the address of the alarm and type of fire or emergency. Usually it was the ladies answering the phone, taking the call, and going to the fire house.

That went on until the very early 60's when the county then organized a dispatch center to handle call taking, setting off the siren, and broadcasting the call info to the fire fighters, all with 2 dispatchers on duty for the whole county. Quite a difference from the 911 center we have now which has four call takers, three or four dispatchers, plus multiple supervisors on duty per shift.

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Thank you very much RKL349. American LaFrance was one of the most popular fire apparatus back in the day. Pierce, Sutphen, Seagrave, Spartan, Marion are all quite popular today. There are many fire apparatus manufacturers, some specializing in one type of vehicle like tankers, or heavy rescues.

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Thank you for looking and commenting, and your career as a firefighter. This vehicle was our first Pierce, and I hope when our next Engine is due to be replaced, they get a Pierce as well. Our 3 engines right now are E-Ones. We also had a E-One heavy rescue which we replaced with a Spartan 8 years ago. Night and day difference between this Pierce, the Spartan, and the E-Ones. Our tanker is made by Four Guys Equipment and is a good rig as well.

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Thank you very much for looking and your very nice compliments.