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18 Comments

• #1 by Bill Post on November 14, 2019 - 8:02 PM

  

  Back on the subject of KME engines. I mentioned that over the past 5 years the New York City Fire Department purchased close to 90 KME engines. Well I recently found out that roughly a year ago they were ordering a similar number of engines from KME to be spread out over a few years, however the order was cancelled and given to Seagrave. The reason had nothing to do with issues of quality but was because KME wasn’t able to meet New York’s delivery schedule without pushing back and delaying orders from other fire departments. It was a manufacturing capacity problem at KME. Building apparatus for New York City is demanding in terms of specs as well as schedules and warranties.

• #2 by Jim on November 14, 2019 - 6:29 PM

  

  Any idea how much the seagrave engine is costing?

• #3 by Jim on November 14, 2019 - 5:57 PM

  

  Maybe they should run 4 rescues and make their 5 engines ALS. It would help with coverage while still providing ALS care anywhere in the city.

• #4 by MABAS GUY on November 14, 2019 - 1:44 PM

  

  I know they have a 75ft Seagrave truck and the Pierce what will be there spare truck and what if any will go away in addition to the squad?

• #5 by Mike on November 14, 2019 - 11:57 AM

  

  Hi bill. From what I was told was they moved the truck to 1 because they wanted to reduce the run volume on it and make it available citywide. The squad was only manned when they had enough staffing and with the new truck they have more space for equipment since it’s a true truck. Going to 5 engines helped with ISO and also helped with manning because all fire companies must have 3 people.

• #6 by Bill Post on November 14, 2019 - 4:14 AM

  

  Thanks for the information MIke. When did they move the truck from Station 4 to 1? Did they put the 5th engine in service when they moved the truck?
  Was the squad they are selling a jump company or was it manned?
  Thanks.

• #7 by Mike on November 13, 2019 - 11:30 PM

  

  Waukegans staffing is as follows:
  Station 1
  Engine 1: 3
  Truck 1: 3
  Rescue 1: 2
  Battalion 1: 1

  Stations 2-5:
  Engines are staffed with 3
  Rescues are staffed with 2

  Stations 2 or 5 will drop to a jump station of Manning goes to 27 and in the next year or so they will add one more guy to permanently staff the ARFF.

  They are selling their squad and combining the squad and ladder together in the aerialscipe.

• #8 by Bill Post on November 13, 2019 - 11:11 PM

  

  Milwaukee Wisconsin had a 1977 Mack/Baker 75-foot Aerialscope and an 85-foot Pitman Snorkel that was on a 1986 Mack CF chassis.

  As far as Waukegan’s Aerialscope, that last I knew was that Station 4 was where their truck was located. It was a Pierce 105′ aerial ladder quint and they didn’t run with an engine out of that house. If the Aerialscope has a pump it could conceivably run as a quint or else it would most likely run out of Station 1 (which is their largest station) as a jump company. Perhaps they could run out of station 2 as a jump company. This is only speculation on my part.

  As far as KME’s go, most of us know that KME’s are not really known for reliability. Quite a few departments that have used their apparatus didn’t use them for long however the Los Angeles County Fire Department has engines and tillered quints for the last 20 years. The New York City Fire Department, which is known for having demanding apparatus specs, has been ordering KME engines since 2014 and they have been slowly replacing older Seagraves. The last I heard they had close to 90 in service.

• #9 by Bill on November 13, 2019 - 9:15 PM

  

  I’m curious why the kme was purchased

  Also what rosenbauer model arff was purchased

• #10 by Jim on November 13, 2019 - 5:42 PM

  

  How will Waukegan staff the Aerialscope? I believe they have 5 stations and they settled on a minimum of 27 personnel per day. I believe they have 5 ambulances staffed with 2 each day and a fire apparatus in each station staffed with 3 plus a battalion chief. That’s 26. Will this be staffed with 1 person?

• #11 by Mike C on November 13, 2019 - 4:08 PM

  

  Ron – I just had to ruffle some feathers because I know they have buyers remorse over that KME.

• #12 by Ron Wolkoff on November 13, 2019 - 3:23 PM

  

  I highly doubt that they will get rid of the kme as its only a few years old

• #13 by Matthew G on November 13, 2019 - 2:43 PM

  

  City of Kenosha does not have Aeiralscopes, they have a Sutphen tower and 2 Sutphen 104′ sticks. While on the subject of Wisconsin departments north of Chicagoland, in suburban Milwaukee the City of West Allis has a 95′ Aerialscope as their front line truck company.

• #14 by Asher Heimermann on November 13, 2019 - 12:45 PM

  

  The City of Kenosha has some Aerialscopes.

• #15 by Mike C on November 13, 2019 - 10:10 AM

  

  Will Waukegan be scrapping the KME pumper?

• #16 by Michael m on November 13, 2019 - 9:39 AM

  

  Nice, which station will this new engine go to?

• #17 by Mike C on November 13, 2019 - 8:36 AM

  

  The Aerialscope is a 95′.

  I’m not aware of any other departments in the Chicagoland area having an Aerialscope

• #18 by MABAS 21 on November 13, 2019 - 7:16 AM

  

  Awesome news for Waukegan! Needed upgrades for an aging fleet, but great to see they’re sticking with Seagrave. It will be awesome to see an Aerialscope in the Chicagoland area. Will it be a 75 or 95 ft?

  Other than Merrillville, has anyone else in the Chicagoland area ever had an Aerialscope?

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