With the fire service focusing more than ever on security and terrorism response, the heavy rescue has become a vital part of the apparatus fleet. Heavy rescues aren't a passing mini-pumper fad or gadget in our equipment arsenal. But that wasn't always a foregone conclusion, as evidenced by the rescue vehicle's history.

Due to World War II, improvements in fire apparatus were on hold until the late '40s. But soon into the 1950s, major innovations were noted in steel aerial ladders, custom chassis, Class B foam equipment and nozzles.

At the time, rescue squads usually were small delivery trucks or other modified commercial vehicles that received little attention because the demand had yet to be rationalized. Companies like Gertenslogger, H & H, Providence Body and Swab Wagon were industry leaders in library or medical coaches, light and power vehicles, and utility vehicles that were adapted for use by the fire service.

A few rescues were found in large cities, but these were typically flying personnel squads. Small volunteer fire departments were lucky to afford their first new pumper and a home-built tanker, let alone an “emergency truck.” Such vehicles probably composed less than 1% of vehicles in the fire service and were a luxury for any department.

Motor vehicle accident rescue was crude due to limited hand or power rescue tools. Small gasoline motors for chain and rescue saws also were quiet large and cumbersome. On-board generators were rare and mainly gasoline-powered. They were large in size, heavy and very low in kilowatt output. Floodlights were extremely large and very inefficient.

Most equipment could be found in a local hardware store. Equipment inventories were limited to small first-aid kits, fire extinguishers, small hand tools, hand-operated hydraulic porto-powers and manila ropes.

Fast-forward to ubiquity

Rescue vehicles really started to find a place in the North American fire service during the 1980s. (For more about the earliest rescues, see sidebar on page 70.) By 2000, a rescue could be found in nearly every fire department. Why were these two decades so important? How were rescues quickly accepted into the fire service?

1. Expanded applications

   Air trucks, rescues with hydraulic cranes, water rescues, hazmat and decon responses, command vehicles, communication vehicles, personnel rehab, large generator units, major scene lighting equipment, EMS and medical support services, as well as many other support services were added to the typical fire department's repertoire. In fact, it is difficult to class all these applications as “rescue services” rather than special-support vehicles.

2. Chassis evolution

   Commercial and custom chassis were now all diesel and automatic with air brakes. Even though we still had a lot of 1-ton pickup-style rescues in use, many of these vehicles were overloaded and unsafe due to the increasing inventory of loose equipment.

   Single-axle chassis were now in the 35,000- to 50,000-pound GVWR range, and tandem chassis were starting to appear in the 45,000- to 70,000-pound range. The cost of a commercial chassis jumped from $25,000 for a gasoline chassis in 1970 to a solid $60,000 or more for a diesel chassis in 1995. By the late '90s, custom chassis ranged from $100,000 to $200,000.

3. More vehicle types

   Both walk-in and non — walk-in custom bodies were available, and there was a change from steel construction to non-corrosive aluminum and stainless steel. Body lengths commonly were in the 18- to 26-foot length range, not including the chassis.

   Bread-type conversion vans with commercial diesel chassis, as built by LDV, were growing in use for command and communication vehicles. Beverage vehicles also were evolving into the fire service with major modifications and major component installation, especially as pioneered by Hackney.

   Roll-up compartment doors were introduced around 1985 and by 1999 were installed in more than half of all new apparatus.

4. On-board component evolution

   Hydraulic generators from 10- to 20kw were invented and grew in popularity, direct-drive generators jumped to the 30- to 100kw range, and fixed diesel-engine generators fell from favor because they took so much space for mounting. The chassis engine was used for a multitude of auxiliary applications: PTO generators and fire pumps, hydraulic winches, screw air compressors and on-board hydraulic rescue tool systems.

   Breathing-air compressors were now in the 20- to 30cfm range, driven by 50- to 100kw direct-drive electric generators. Combined with eight- to 12-bottle, 6,000-pound cascade systems, fire departments were now purchasing adequate-sized air/light vehicles for long-term operations.

   NFPA 1901 also influenced rescue vehicles when lighting became “critical to the mission of the vehicle.” Light towers from Will-Burt and Command Light became commonplace on the majority of heavy rescues. In addition, you could now find up to four electric cable reels on an apparatus, as well as two to four hydraulic rescue tool reels, and one or two air reels.

   These changes added a new term to our vocabulary — heavy rescue — to describe a multipurpose rescue vehicle with a full complement of modern rescue equipment.

5. Increased equipment inventories

   With so much more equipment, fire departments now have to inventory and weight their equipment to allow manufacturers to engineer the chassis, body and vehicle design to perform as required by the purchaser.

Air shores, extensive shoring, heavy timbers, ram bars, hydraulic jacks, and high- and low-pressure air bags for trench rescue and collapse could be found on even an average volunteer fire department heavy rescue. High-angle rescue and associated equipment was considered standard on most vehicles.

In the mid-'80s we started to see slide trays and tool boards, and by the late-'90s, equipment mounting had reached new levels of organization. The greatest influence on equipment came from Europe as fire officers and apparatus manufacturers visited Germany's Intershutz conference. American truck-builders introduced roll-up doors, tool and equipment mounting, and well- engineered vehicles that increased operational capabilities and storage capacities. It was not uncommon to spend 10% of the apparatus cost on equipment mounting systems.

The '80s and '90s could definitely be considered the maturing period of the rescue evolution. Almost all fire apparatus manufacturers were in the rescue market, and these vehicles accounted for 10% to 15% of new apparatus sales.

Rescues of the future

But what will the next 10 years hold? In all likelihood, the applications of special-service vehicles will continue to grow and spread to specific areas. We will see different types of vehicles, pods, modules or trailers for specific and focused uses such as air and light, hazmat, command and communications, decon, rehab, crane, water rescue, high-angle rescue, and trench rescue. They may take the form of detachable chassis and body units, slide-on and -off modules, fifth-wheel trailers, or full tractor-trailer support units.

Today we are expecting terrorist attacks, bombings and hostage incidents, but are our present vehicles equipped or suited for such incidents? New vehicles must be designed for decontamination of hundreds or thousands of people, and medical facilities will have to be pre-staged for large events. We are only scratching the surface when we compare our present rescue fleet to the future needs of our country. How would a U.S. fire department handle a school hostage incident like the one that occurred in Russia last month? The public's expectations will only increase for first responders, including their equipment and apparatus.

If fact, we will see regional vehicles such as crane units, nuclear response vehicles, more sophisticated command and communications units, collapse rigs, and high-tech hazmat response and lab units. These would be placed strategically in high-risk areas throughout the country, staffed by metro-level fire departments for regional response. They also could be pre-staged at large public assembly and sporting events. Such units would provide instant incident management command, and a vehicle designed for a public information center is not out of the question.

Multipurpose and combination light, medium and heavy rescues will be part of every fire department fleet. However, they will grow more complicated in nature, with wider inventory levels for a total package of available services. These vehicles also will serve as personnel carriers for mutual aid and regional response. The average commercial chassis rescue unit will run from $200,000 to $300,000, and custom chassis units will be in the $400,000 to $800,000 range. The $1 million heavy rescue will not be unusual!

Equipment changes

In terms of design, rescue units won't change a great deal. In the 1990s, non — walk-in bodies with roll-up compartment doors grew in popularity, and this trend will continue. Roll-up doors will be used in more than 75% of produced units. Tractor-trailer rigs won't grow in use due to driver training issues, but they will be used for regional specialized applications.

Command and communications vehicles will double in the next 10 years, mainly for regional applications and large metro areas based on risk factors. These units will grow from small bread-van units to $1 million dollar complex electronic apparatus. Incident command systems and equipment will find their way to almost every rescue vehicle. Camera towers and remote camera operations will be standard. Satellite uplink equipment, GPS and other equipment now found on military vehicles will be expanded to the fire service. Even camera-equipped drone aircraft could be in a regional fleet. These communication vehicles and associated homeland security support vehicles will be funded in future government grants.

Rehab apparatus will expand in use in certain areas of the country. These units will include firefighter GPS location and medical monitoring systems. Mass-casualty units also will start to appear on a regional basis; these may first originate at military bases, but will find their way to the fire service. Support vehicles for breathing air, generators and floodlights will grow in numbers with an output range of 30scfm or more. The number of spare SCBA cylinders carried on all vehicles will probably double.

Chassis will not change dramatically, other than in GVWR and horsepower. Tandem chassis rescues and custom chassis both will grow in numbers in the next 10 years. The average length of rescue bodies will be around 20 feet, and tandem chassis units will be about 25 feet. The average commercial chassis will run in the $75,000 to $110,000 range, with custom chassis in the $125,000 to $250,000 range.

The chassis engine will be used to power generators, air compressors and various hydraulic-power applications. Generators in the 50- to 100kw range will not be uncommon. Fixed floodlights and light towers will increase dramatically in number and total floodlight lumens. Two light towers will become standard, with lighting levels of 400,000 to 600,000 lumens per tower (compared to 150,000 lumens on today's towers). Electric cable reels will use heavier gauge (8/4 or larger) for 50- to 100-amp supply.

Hydraulic rescue tools and air compressors also will be supplied from portable pumps. Up to four hydraulic hose reels will be normal, with an array of multipurpose tools. A typical inventory of HRT pumps and portable equipment will cost in the $50,000 to $100,000 range. Air compressors will be screw-type with 60- to 200CFM, and air bags will be standard inventory components in both high- and low-pressure systems. Multiple low-pressure air reels will provide for small hand tools, high-capacity jack hammers and other applications.

At present, fewer than 5% of rescues have fire pumps and water tanks, and that's not likely to change due to a lack of available equipment space and the availability of pumpers at a scene. The cost of such installations are better spent on air supply, hydraulics, lighting, generators and portable equipment.

Inventory issues

Introduction of new portable rescue equipment is happening so fast that the fire service will be hard pressed to keep vehicles updated to carry such new equipment. Rescue equipment inventories could reflect 25% of the cost of the vehicle, between $100,000 and $250,000.

For this reason, sophisticated and quickly adjustable mounting systems will be required. Many think that today's apparatus have pretty good mounting systems, but we are hardly half as good as present European rescue apparatus. We can double the amount of equipment carried on a vehicle with good pre-engineering and new mounting systems. Such systems will cost up to 15% of the vehicle.

Few rescues today are shipped by manufacturers that are fully equipped, but that will change! Because comprehensive rescue equipment inventories are not defined by present NFPA 1901 standards, we need to identify such guideline inventories for multipurpose vehicles. Before purchasing a new support vehicle, a fire department should define an exact equipment inventory, including weights and dimensions as well as acquisition costs.

The next 10 years will see more change in rescue and special support vehicles than we have seen in the past two decades as we rewrite our rescue strategy. Education, training and vehicles are headed toward new plateaus. Many manufacturers are already gearing up for such new vehicles, as well as the new components and designs forecasted here. Hang on spec writers — this will be challenging period in the design of 2010 rescue apparatus.

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Alan Saulsbury, previous owner of Saulsbury Fire Rescue, is a committee member of NFPA 1901, Automotive Fire Apparatus, and a past president and director of the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association. Saulsbury is an apparatus consultant for Fire Research Corp. and Elkhart Brass as well as president of Fire Spec Services, which provides technical specification software services for component manufacturers.

Low Sales But More Equipment

In the 1960s the fire service started to see some changes. New fire stations were being built, and basic pumpers and aerials were finding their way into most stations, replacing surplus war vehicles and home-built apparatus. During the 1960s and 1970s, manufacturers saw an increased output of tankers, pumpers and aerials. While the early '70s brought new sales of elevated platforms, rescues still were less than 3% of apparatus sales. However, we were now calling utility, emergency trucks and squad trucks “rescues.”

Chassis were mainly gasoline-powered commercial models like the Ford F-700 or C-750 cab-over chassis, which cost well under $20,000. If you were really rich you could buy a $25,000 custom pumper with Waukesha or Hall-Scott gas engine, open cab, hydraulic brakes, and manual transmission. Diesel engines, automatic transmissions and air brakes evolved during the 1970s. By then, most rescues were single-axle chassis in the 25,000- to 35,000-pound GVWR range.

The first rescues in volunteer departments were 1-ton pick-up trucks, which mirrored what was seen on TV's Emergency, and modified bread delivery, beverage and utility vehicles. In the early '70s, custom 12- to 18-foot rescue bodies were built by a few small companies; however, the major manufacturers — American LaFrance, Mack, Ward LaFrance, Hahn, Howe — were not building rescue vehicles. Plain-steel bodies, later known as rust buckets, were mainly of the walk-in type with rear-body entry and hinged exterior doors.

In the 1960s, major components were limited to gasoline generators in the 5- to 10kw range. However, the '70s saw a major improvement in electrical supply with 6- to 12kw diesel generators, and PTO-driven generators in the 15- to 20kw range started to be used in a good percentage of larger rescues. Floodlights also improved, with fixed quartz floodlights in the side of rescue bodies. Electrical cable reels also appeared on a few vehicles.

Special equipment evolved with introduction of small, electric 8,000-pound winches and manually installed A-frames. With the introduction of the hydraulic rescue tool, rescue vehicles were starting to catch on. Fire departments began to substantiate the need to carry an ever-increasing inventory of loose equipment, as aerials and pumpers did not have the compartment space or had chassis that were quickly overload.

In the 1960s, SCBA equipment was evolving and spare cylinders were carried mainly on vehicles. Refilling was always at a remote location, and cylinders were shuttled on major incidents. The next decade saw an increased use of four- and six-bottle air cascade systems with an occasional air reel. Equipment inventories also started to increase in scope and weight. New items included plywood, shoring, chainsaws and electric-powered tools, and wider inventory of long hand tools. Salvage and overhaul increased as well, bringing tarps, electric fans, buckets, shovels, vacuums and portable pumps.