
Hinsdale Engine 84 – 2014 Pierce Saber 1500/750. Jeff Rudolph photo

Hinsdale Engine 85 – 2000 Pierce Dash 1250/750. Jeff Rudolph photo

Hinsdale FD Truck 84 – 2008 Spartan Gladiator/Rosenbauer General/Metz 1250/300 105′ Raptor tower ladder. Jeff Rudolph photo
#1 by harry on April 27, 2018 - 12:10 AM
new berlin wi has a freightliner metz aerial and from whay they told me it was junk they went back to using there old eone tower but they are bigger than Hinsdale so a regular tower works better for them
#2 by Daniel Hynd on April 26, 2018 - 10:12 PM
And I understand that Hinsdale may not need a lot of compartment space. For Hinsdale, I think the Metz is the perfect truck and one of the most compact. What it ultimately comes down to is department needs and layout of the town.
#3 by Daniel Hynd on April 26, 2018 - 9:52 PM
Ya but they can’t carry as much equipment. I know that there expensive, and I’ve been told carrying things when it comes to European tower ladders in terms of weight and capacity. It Would be interesting to how the Ascendant midmount platform, the 110’ ascendant platforms and this would compare.
#4 by Matt on April 26, 2018 - 7:51 PM
Metz aerials are not cheap and they are very strong. The aerial can lift a van with ease as advertised when first brought over to the US. It is a much more compact design as they were designed for the tight narrow streets of older European cities where a 100′ Pierce or E-One platform would not work.
#5 by Rich on April 26, 2018 - 1:57 PM
The set backs are the reason they bought that truck. It fits in most of the driveways. The old tower they had. Held them back. They raptor haves a lot shorter trun. The old tower was very nice but had limited areass.
#6 by Daniel Hynd on April 26, 2018 - 11:09 AM
The Metz tower ladders are lighter weight and can’t do as much stuff as a normal tower ladder, but they get the job done quite efficiently. Hinsdale doesn’t really need a full sized tower since they don’t have a lot of tall buildings, and the ones they do have can be easily accessed by the current tower. It’ll be interesting to see if in the future they go with the Ascendant 110′ tower or even the 100′ Midmount ascendant tower. It can also be difficult getting a full-sized tower through some of the small roads or setback driveways in Hinsdale. Tri-State, for example, got a sky boom for Engine 123 (531) since it primarily serves Willowbrook and an area that has a lot of bigger houses with long setbacks, and it’s easier to get an engine sized 65′ skyboom down a driveway than a full-sized tower.
#7 by Michael M on April 26, 2018 - 11:05 AM
Nice photographs! My guess is Hinsdale does not see that many fires!
#8 by Bill Post on April 26, 2018 - 10:22 AM
It’s interesting that you don’t see many of those Metz raptor tower ladders around however the Countryside Fire Protection District in Lake County Illinois also has one. I believe it is a 2005 model. The Countryside Fire Protection District serves a large portion of Vernon Hills as well as unincorporated Mundelein and parts of unincorporated Lake County. The Hawthorn Mall shopping center is in the center of the district.
As far as tower ladders go, the Metz Raptor looks pretty puny and you’ll notice how small the collapsible basket is. I would guess it is cheaper then an American unit. It looks like it might be okay for a small town without that much fire duty.
#9 by Matt on April 25, 2018 - 7:08 PM
Metz has been a fully owned subsidiary of Rosenbauer Austria for quite a while.
#10 by Crabby Milton on April 25, 2018 - 5:31 PM
Nice mixture of colors there.
I didn’t know METZ was now part of ROSENBAUR unless, it was that way forever.
#11 by harry on April 25, 2018 - 3:40 PM
I see the yellow engine has an all led bar on the roof now