Tales From The FireHouse

The Robinson Township Fire Dept. (We live in this township) took possession of a newer fire truck which will be used as a water tender. The truck replaces the 1971 Ford 700 series truck (48 years old) which was taken out of service due to faulty brakes and a lack of parts to repair the truck. The older Ford had served the Dept. well but was really showing its age lately. (Rust holes thru the floor) The "New to us" truck is only 30 years old with a 35,000 lbs gross weight capacity. And air brakes which have much better stopping power. When we took possession of the newer Ford (F800 Series) from the township of Brock, the township also bundled in a kit of lifting inflatable bags, air tanks, regulators and hoses for heavy lift vehicle extraction. (The fire dept I serve on is also responsible for car/truck accidents)  In addition to the lifting bags the truck was equipped with an optional on board air compressor and regulator for maintaining the air pressure in the tanks for the air brakes system. No waiting for air pressure to build up, which takes about 90 seconds, if a fire/accident call comes in. All of this for $5000.00! The Dept. considers it extremely good value for the taxpayers' money. (A brand new truck with these specs. would cost $320,000 !!)  But....it's not always sunny and 20 deg....there is some maintenance that had to be done...a few leaks were repaired, an oil change is needed, and a drive belt. Not bad. The thing is...if you can find a truck with a good water tank and the body/drive train is good with low kms...it's a great deal. One must consider that these trucks spend most of their lives in a heated fire hall given the best of care.

     You may recall that I said the truck has air brakes. For the benefit of our European readers all provinces in Canada have a commercial vehicle category that starts when the truck has a registered gross weight of 4500 kgs or a bus that seat 10 passengers or more. In addition to this if the truck/bus has air brakes there is a special endorsement for the driver to have. A written test and a road test are required  to get the "Z Air Brake Endorsement" So far I passed the written yesterday. All this so I can legally drive the fire trucks. So the next time you see a fire truck think of all the training the drivers had to go thru....DZ license and years of specialized firefighting and vehicle extraction (First Responder) training. And I thought I was going to be retired!

Tim

The latest addition to the family.