New truck for the Alsip Fire Department (more)

From Bill Schreiber:

Alsip FD Truck 2014 final inspection/delivery day is Thursday

#chicagoareafire.com; #rosenbaueramerica; #Commander; #FireTruck; #AlsipFD; #Cobra; #mid-mount; #platform;

Tags: #rosenbaueramerica, Alsip FD Tower 2014, Alsip Fire Department, chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, New truck for the Alsip Fire Department, Rosenbauer Cobra mid-mount tower ladder, Rosenbauer fire truck built for the Alsip Fire Department

This entry was posted on September 26, 2025, 3:30 PM and is filed under Fire Department News, Fire Truck photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

17 Comments

#1 by E. C. Darroll on October 3, 2025 - 5:55 PM

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Harry, manpower would indeed be a “good start” but it’s just not that simple or achievable. A three man company (officer, engineer, firefighter) on a three shift department costs 1.25-1.75ish (VERY variable dependent obviously) MILLION per year in just salary and benefits alone.
#2 by MABAS 21 on October 3, 2025 - 7:12 AM

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Bill,

Glen Ellyn and Lemont both have Rosenbauer midmount towers.
#3 by Mike C on October 3, 2025 - 7:01 AM

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Very nice looking truck. I haven’t built a lot of confidence in the Rosenbauer product but I truly wish Alsip the best. They are a great bunch of people!
#4 by harry on October 2, 2025 - 9:43 PM

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cmk i never said they did not need a ladder or tower and if u think about it they have a 2014 seagrave engine a 2007 and a 2024 and there is one on order again granted that wll be in a few years but i would say man power would be a good start too all towns are hurting in some way
#5 by cmk420 on October 2, 2025 - 1:52 PM

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Harry-
The tower ladder is going to be, most likely, ran out of Station 2, They will always have a reserve engine.
Stop worrying about five years down the road & focus on the here and now. And how do you know what Alsip needs as far as apparatus goes? They have a lot of industrial areas and several commercial areas that require a tower ladder, or just an aerial device in general.
As was previously stated, MABAS 22 is grossly understaffed, so while the majority of the departments there have a truck or a tower, there is zero guarantee they will be either in service or have the right amount of staffing to get it out.
#6 by Bill on September 30, 2025 - 10:56 PM

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Deerfield just ordered an ascendant, these rosenbauer mid mounts are going to be rare
#7 by Tim on September 30, 2025 - 6:02 PM

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Harry, it sounds like you’re not familiar with the south or southwest suburbs. Mostly understaffed ( and not much $$$) and a lot of fires, especially Divisions 22, 24, and 27. It wasn’t uncommon for each member to bring out a rig. They do more with less.
#8 by harry on September 30, 2025 - 2:54 PM

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dh
8 guys on a shift for 2 stations the size of alsip is well understaffed even fp has 11 on a shift but as i said how do u know 5 years from now thatalsip wont be running a truck out of that house and an engine out of the other we dont know

one thing is for sure they get more vehicles than they really need

well at least if the engine at the second house breaks they could take the engine from the main house instead of the reserve

many depts run trucks with water tanks franklin pk schiller pk rosemont niles pk ridge oak brook and many more
#9 by E. C. Darroll on September 30, 2025 - 2:43 PM

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Chuck, this was a demo unit that was bought shortly after production started. So while I would imagine they had some leeway to make some minor customizations, something as invasive as removing the pump and re-engineering it probably would have been beyond what was possible due to this fact.
#10 by The DH on September 30, 2025 - 2:10 PM

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Hairy, Alsip’s minimum staffing is 8 for two stations for two engines, the truck, mini-squad and two ambos. If the engine is out on a call, there’s no one there to staff the truck… Putting a pump and tank on it gives the village ISO points, allows it to be used in a pinch if multiple rigs are out of service and doesn’t need to tie up an engine to supply it on a fire. And the number one reason it has a pump and tank…the 5 people you see in the 4th picture down decided that is what the ALSIP FD needed…not Franklin Park, not Miami-Dade…Alsip….

Maybe do some homework about the department before you type uneducated ramblings.
#11 by Chuck on September 30, 2025 - 10:17 AM

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Harry, I’m not interested in Franklin Park in 1998. FYI, I did paramedic time in 1984 and 1985 there and the job there was infinitely more organized than today. Once again, you’re comparing apples to coconuts as you are always wont to do and your comparisons are laughable at best.
#12 by harry on September 28, 2025 - 9:42 PM

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chuck

a good example of what i said was franklin pk il when i moved there in 1998 they had the following

station 1 engine and ambulance 1 reserve engine and ambulance rescue 1
station 2 engine truck (no water) ambulance car 490 now thats battalion 2 spare cars and cheif
station 3 engine 3

now station 3 is closed only for storage
and now 2 has a truck with water but engine is there to be staffed by the ambulance when needed or if the ambulance is in
#13 by harry on September 28, 2025 - 9:35 PM

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chuck
2 reasons either one what if the engine at the station where the truck is at is on a call already for mutual aid and then a fire comes in a block down the station what do u do say to the people in the burning the engine is coming from crestwood it will be 7 minutes

or what if 5 years from now the money that alsip gets fr the fd from businesses and households stops because business moves out and now the station with the engine and truck is not only the truck ambulance and reserve rigs and cheif vehicles then what

both of these can and do happen
#14 by Chuck on September 28, 2025 - 10:17 AM

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Why did they feel the need to put a tank and pump on this rig? This thing isn’t going to be leading out anywhere….extra money and weight and maintenance costs..for what?
#15 by Mike hellmuth on September 27, 2025 - 9:40 PM

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You’ll definitely see this truck coming down the road. I like the color and stripe combos also the wheels make it stand out in a good way……
#16 by Wayne on September 27, 2025 - 2:58 PM

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This particular truck was bought as a matter of expediency. Their Seagrave truck was unusable due it’s deteriorating condition, and purchasing from Seagrave was going to take too long. They didn’t want to be without a truck for the amount of time it would have taken. They currently have a Seagrave engine on order.
#17 by harry on September 27, 2025 - 1:14 AM

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i wonder if they had bought a seagrave would it have been a mid mount