Dan McInerney provided the following information about the new tower ladder that is being purchased by Oak Park.
The OPFD recently opted to purchase a new truck. The bidder that was selected was E-One. The type of truck selected was a 95′ platform on a low profile chassis. The low profile chassis is needed due to numerous viaducts with low clearance issues. Also making a return to the OPFD is a truck without a pump. The main reasons we chose no pump is to cut down on cost and complexity, be able to carry more equipment, and due to a recent ISO grading that showed us we no longer needed an aerial ladder with a pump. The compartment space that will be added due to the new configuration will more than double the amount of space we currently have.
E-One was able to meet our height restrictions by lowering the height of the ladder when bedded. If you look closely in the drawing and picture, you will see that the cab is a normal sized Cyclone, but the waterway is nestled in a cutout of the roof of the cab. There is approximately 4-5 inches of dead space in between the top of the roof and cab ceiling where insulation, wires, radio stuff, etc. would go. Another big concern was the amount of forward visibility that was lost with other low profile designs.There were three other manufacturers that bid – Rosenbauer, Ferrara, and Spartan ERV – all three of them had forward visibility issues with their low profile designs.
Another point of contention with the 95′ model is we would loose several feet of vertical reach from what we currently have. Those concerns were put aside when we compared an E-One 95′ vs. 100′. The 100′ has a larger outrigger spread compared to the 95′, and in all, we would only loose a little over 2 feet of reach if both were set up at the same spot.
The attached picture of a low profile 100′ was sent to us by E-One for a customer whose agency escapes me at the moment. Our rig will have no pump and roll-up doors throughout, except in a spot over the rear duals where a roll up door would be impractical. In this picture you can really see the bottom of the platform affects only the top portion of forward visibility.
E-ONE 95′ rear-mount tower ladder on a Cyclone chassis with a notched cab roof. E-ONE photo
