Lancaster County (S.C.) Fire Service placed an order for
18 Pierce Contender fire apparatus valued at $5.4 million. The order includes eight custom pumpers, eight rescue vehicles and two dry-side tankers, including the state’s first fleet of Hercules compressed-air foam equipment. The apparatus will be delivered beginning in June 2008.<p>

Lancaster County covers an area of 549 square miles and is located just south of Charlotte, N.C. The county’s 19 fire departments are comprised of approximately 300 volunteer fire fighters.<p>

“Purchasing these vehicles involved years of research, and it was a true team effort with our county fire commission, county council and county administration,” said Lancaster County Fire Service Director, Morris Russell. “We met with other departments, visited tradeshows, evaluated specifications and reviewed bids from 10 different manufacturers."<p>

Each of the eight Contender custom pumpers are equipped with a 400-horsepower engine, 1,000-gallon water tank, Husky dual-agent foam system, Hercules CAFS, rollup compartment doors and a top-mount pumphouse with Control Zone pump panel.<p>

The eight rescues are built on commercial chassis and each features a 310-horsepower engine, two-door cab, 16-foot aluminum body, rollup doors, full-height and full-depth transverse compartments, slide-out and tilt trays, 25-kW PTO generator and scene lights.<p>

Both dry-side tankers are built on commercial chassis and feature a 2,000-gallon poly water tank, air-actuated dump chutes, 2,500-gallon folding tank, roll-up doors, 500-gpm pump and stainless steel plumbing.