This from Dennis McGuire, Jr:
I was able to attend the open house held yesterday (10/3/15) at the Fire Service Inc. headquarters in St. John, Indiana. On display were many demo rigs and some new deliveries for the area. Of interest were a rear engine pumper on a Quest HS chassis, E-One’s 78′, 105′, and 137′ rear mount aerials, and a 100′ tower ladder quint on the new Quest chassis. Local rigs on display were a Typhoon engine for Hometown, a Typhoon engine for Glencoe, and 14 new Ford E-350/Wheeled Coach ambulances for Chicago. (Ambulnaces 2, 8, 11, 17, 18, 21, 27, 37, 42, 62, 64, 68, 69 & 73)Dennis
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
#1 by Al Whitlock on October 8, 2015 - 6:23 PM
As of today [10-8-2015], they are still there.
#2 by Dennis on October 6, 2015 - 1:06 PM
The ambo behind CFD Amb. 21 is a plain demo.
#3 by Dennis on October 6, 2015 - 12:58 PM
The 3 E-One tower ladders for Chicago are being built now and will be on Cyclone II chassis. They will be delivered around December.
#4 by Bill Post on October 5, 2015 - 5:40 PM
Chicago’s two 135-foot E/One ladders did have pre-piped waterways. Chicago also had a 1974 Model 135 Morita-Lift aerial device, which was really an extended telescopic aerial with tracks on it for a small elevator-type basket that ran up and down along the side. It was built with a Pierce body on a Hendrickson chassis with a small cab.
More interesting is that Chicago had run with two 144-foot Magirus aerial Ladders (delivered in 1960) which were built on B-Model Mack chassis with an engine-ahead of cab design. They didn’t have prepiped waterways but did have aerial pipes.
Tom, I agree with you that Chicago should run with some taller aerials. Currently the tallest aerial devices that are offered to the North American market (besides the 137-foot E/One ladder) are the Bronto Skylift and Gimaex Telstar. The tallest Bronto model offered in North America is a 134-foot unit marketed by E/One.
In 2012 Spartan ERV became the American distributor of the Gimaex 136-foot Telstar aerial platform which is similar to the Bronto Skylift. They are both articulated (like the Snorkel is) and telescopic. I don’t know if Spartan is still the American distributor.
Bronto Skylifts are offered in taller models for the European and Asian markets where the tallest unit is about 367 feet. These have a wider turning radius so it is felt that marketing them in North America is impractical. The aerial devices overseas are also used specifically for their platforms and aerial ladders and do not carry many ground ladders or trucK company tools. In many countries the engines and some of squads do the truck work as well as engine work and the aerial companies are basically specialty units used solely for the aerial device. In London for example they have 102 active fire stations but only 11 stations run with an aerial unit.
In my opinion, Chicago might as well purchase a few of the 134-foot Bronto Skylifts for the downtown truck companies instead of purchasing the 137-foot ladder. Yes I realize that this is not about to happen as Chicago must first see to it that the tower ladders get up to date replacements and money is very tight.
#5 by Crabby Milton on October 5, 2015 - 4:58 PM
Speculation is always fun. You may go buggy putz in the process but it’s still fun to imagine what if this that or the other thing.
For starters, what if CFD decided to go dark blue? or MFD decided to end it’s long practice of buying nothing but PIERCE and go with ROSENBAUER?
I’ll stop now since I don’t want to give anyone silly ideas. 🙂
#6 by Eric Haak on October 5, 2015 - 3:05 PM
Completely understand and agree that in the end, the way it looks does not matter at all. However, this format is for general discussion and is a place for people to discuss things that don’t matter much in reality. Just like speculation over where Chicago’s squads are going to go. It doesn’t matter what people say about it here but it is fun to speculate and discuss. When it comes to functionality, they could all be big boxes on wheels that pump water, as long as they do the job.
#7 by Rich on October 5, 2015 - 2:59 PM
Westmont also had a 135. It was e-one demo for short time and they could not mount any equipment.
#8 by Tom Foley on October 5, 2015 - 1:01 PM
Are there any Chicago area departments using a truck/aerial as tall as 137 feet? What would be a reason say, Chicago with many high buildings, would not use a taller ladder?
Regardless of the look, there’s something to be said about the e-one truck longevity… at least for Chicago.
#9 by mike on October 5, 2015 - 2:51 PM
As far as I remember Chicag, Naperville and Schaumburg were the only departments in the area that had the 135′ ladders. They were all straight trucks without pumps and I don’t believe waterways either.
#10 by Member on October 10, 2015 - 8:38 PM
Westmont has a 135′ as well. It was recently donated to IFSI
#11 by jsvens on October 5, 2015 - 11:45 AM
I’m sorry, but I think the E-One Quest cab is a rather ungainly design. It looks more like a Winnebago RV than a fire rig.
#12 by Crabby Milton on October 5, 2015 - 11:42 AM
We have to remember that when these rigs are working at a scene, few are going to care what it looks like as long as it gets the job done. A trained eye can tell the difference though it was easier to tell the differences among the builders a generation ago. Builders can’t afford to change the design every year like auto builders did at one time. Hey, look how long SEAGRAVE built their 70th Anniversary line 1951-1970.
#13 by Crabby Milton on October 5, 2015 - 11:34 AM
466 sure looks good with that shine. That little guy has good taste and perhaps a future contributor to this site.
#14 by David on October 5, 2015 - 5:12 AM
@Eric Haak: I’ve got pretty much the same feeling about the apparatus design during the last 20 yrs. When you look at the Hometown Engine, the rig looks just as if it fell off the CFD’s 1988 E-One batch of pumpers. Except that they added the small grille and the cabs appear a bit roomier (higher) now, they didn’t change almost nothing during more than 25 years. On the other hand have to say that the Quest TL look pretty sharp.
Also couldn’t find any info on the CFD’s new towers, anybody knows anything closer like if they started to build them yet..??
#15 by Tom on October 4, 2015 - 9:10 PM
E one quest kinda reminds me of the american lafrance century 2000 rigs.
#16 by mm on October 4, 2015 - 5:16 PM
I see at least one Type 1 ambulance (fourth picture, behind Amb. 21)…is that another Chicago ambulance? And, if so, what company is it heading to? How did CFD determine who gets Type 3 or Type 1s?
#17 by Eric Haak on October 4, 2015 - 4:31 PM
I like the look of the engine and tower ladder in the first two pictures. Over the decades, rigs always had a look that you could identify with as being from another era. In the last 20 years, rigs have begun to look kind of the same with minor differences in my opinion. I have wondered what direction cab design was going to head that would make a new era unique to eras past. These cabs are a little different, maybe not the greatest but at least different.
#18 by Dennis on October 4, 2015 - 2:23 PM
The Hometown engine is a 2015 E-One Typhoon 1500/530 Serial# 139396. The Glencoe engine is a 2015 E-One Typhoon 2000/530 Serial# 139325.