Snorkel

[skipatrol8]

Who manufactures this snorkel for memphis--its on an e-one but I am pretty sure they don't. I am also curious as towho makes chicago's. Seems like a good idea--like a mini tower, and probable better that telesqurt. It also has almost all the advantages of snozzle in terms of articulation. likes dislikes?

[bobsnyder]

Most likely Bronto - that's who E-One partners with for these things.

[Bones42]

My sister company just replaced a Snorkle. In our area, it was close to the most worthless truck you could find. It was 75'. Horizontal reach was about 35', at 35' off the ground. Could not get over or under trees. Could not get over or under power lines. When neither was present, could not reach far enough to access most roofs in town due to setback of houses. Not the fault of the truck though, it just was not the right vehicle for the area. I'd suggest really looking at your area to see if those are problems you would run into.

I will admit, when a bird became stuck in the old manual siren at our EMS building, having the bucket made it easier in removing the carcass. Guess it did have one good thing to it.

If you are simply looking for an elevated stream, check out Snozzle's.

[skipatrol8]

Oh no...

I am just curious, a snorkel would be worthless for the reasons you said in our area. Our 100' RMA is almost worthless in some areas. Might be good for subdivision towns--you dont need a big stick to reach houses that are only 3 stories and close to the road.

[mcaldwell]

If you are sourcing a first "Elevated Stream" device for your department, a truck like that has more shortcomings than benefits. We looked into one (ALF) during our research, but in the end, the telesqurt had more uses. Not the least of which was uninterrupted evacuation capabilities. A bucket without a ladder is just too slow for multi-casualty evacuations. And as Bones has suggested, the articulation benefits of such a small device are underwhelming. Most power lines are higher than 25', so try to maintain your OSHA clearances with 35' or less of height.

As a supplementary or specialty truck, in combination to an existing ladder, they will give you elevated master stream capabilities, and limited rescue capabilities in a smaller, lighter, cheaper package. As a sole unit however, they are little more than an engine with half the payload and storage capacity due to the pedestal and hydraulics.

[SBrooks]

Bronto Skyllift makes 'snorkels' with uninterrupted ladders in various heights over in finland. E-one seems to have exclusive rights to US distribution of their mid-range 105-134' aerial ladder platforms. They make smaller ones as well as much much bigger ones. These are the 'standard' tower in Europe, and they're becoming more and more popular here.

[bgcjmc]

The Snorkel device shown on the E-One is made by American LaFrance, who purchased this company back in the late '90's. I believe that it used to be a division of Figgie International. Snorkel also makes the Tele-Squrt and the Squrt, which is an articulating type waterway device. Any manufacturer can purchase any "Snorkel" product from ALF. Some manufacturer's have their own, such as KME has, I believe a Fire-Stix. Pierce has the Sky-Boom. E-One also offers one, but it's name/model escapes me. These are devices that are supposed to compete with the ALF/Snorkel Tele-Squrt models.

[mcaldwell]

Bronto Skyllift makes 'snorkels' with uninterrupted ladders in various heights over in finland. E-one seems to have exclusive rights to US distribution of their mid-range 105-134' aerial ladder platforms. They make smaller ones as well as much much bigger ones. These are the 'standard' tower in Europe, and they're becoming more and more popular here.

We had one tour through here, and they were very nice, but certainly not "entry" level. They wanted $990,000CAD for the 100' demo we saw.

[canuck1]

bronto

My understanding is that the Bronto WAS quite popular many years ago - and died off. Seems to me that E-One is hanging their hat on the product now, and trying to revive the product line in a last ditch effort to stay alive in the fire truck business.

From what I've heard - the bronto is VERY expensive to buy / operate / maintain / fix. Service and support is said to be weak, as the product is actually made in Finland - or somewhere in Scandanavia!

I talked to a Captain that told me they never use their Bronto because everytime they do, it costs them a fortune - and the 10 year PM cost them close to 100,000.00!

[skipatrol8]

schwing

This helps me understand why Pierce, who has almost exclusive rights to schwings firefighting apparatus (they make LARGE squrts and a bronto like tower with more articulation), has not sold any of the their towers. If there is no market why bother, right?

Schwing fire 115' areial tower--http://www.schwing.com/05_fire/gmb.html

[RFDACM02]

Mcaldwell:
I'd have to argue against your point that a tower without a ladder is slower in a multi-person evac. If the victims aren't spry and readily able to climb down a ladder, its damn slow. If you have 4 elderly people in a room and they each need help down the stick how do you assist them? Heck, one person scared of heights screws the hole rescue op up. While a bucket has to leave the window/roof/ledge taking 4 people down at a time is damn easy with just one FF in the bucket. Of couse a true tower ladder is the best of both worlds. I'm pretty sure we can get 6 in our bucket and 4 more on the ledge if it were a true take'em or leave'em job. (course we do have have ladder also)

Manchester, NH just put another Bronto in service. They seem to be quite happy though I hear the mechanic is not crazy over them.

And while ALF bought Snorkel's fire division in 1998, I don't remember seeing many Snorkel platforms in the last few years. In fact, the Telesqurt line is all built at Ephrata, but in two recent trips there I didn't see a single Snorkel bucket or boom and they aren't even mentioned on their site.

[FireLineEquip]

That would because the Squrts and TeleSqurts are manufactured out of the Lebanon PA plant, not Ephrata PA.

[skipatrol8]

Evac

you could, in theory, have uninterupted casualty evacuations beacuse the bronto does have an escape ladder that I believe is NFPA compliant for siderails and such. I know I have seen a picture of several FFs in full ventilation compliment, waiting and climbing up (for whatever reason). I don't know where this was though.

[RFDACM02]

That would because the Squrts and TeleSqurts are manufactured out of the Lebanon PA plant, not Ephrata PA.

Sorry, I lump these two together. I didn't see any snorkel buckets/platforms or booms in Lebanon either. Do you know if they are still producing the Snorkel platform?

[npfd801]

Who manufactures this snorkel for memphis--its on an e-one but I am pretty sure they don't. I am also curious as towho makes chicago's. Seems like a good idea--like a mini tower, and probable better that telesqurt. It also has almost all the advantages of snozzle in terms of articulation. likes dislikes?

Like mentioned, Memphis' unit is a Snorkel on an E-One. I believe another similar unit is coming for them on a Pierce Arrow XT chassis, if it isn't there already. There is a chance that these aerial units were rehabbed from existing units, I don't know. Snorkels seem to be like Aerialscopes in that they lend themselves well to being remounted to new chassis.

Chicago's three units that run as part of a two piece squad unit are HME chassis Central States units with the Snorkel boom.

I've heard through a couple of people that I trust that you just can't buy a Snorkel unit - as a complete rig or just the boom to mount, from ALF any longer. Now this is rumor, I don't know for sure. ALF does nothing to support the line any longer on their website. They still list the Telesqurt, but not a Snorkel.

Anyone have the straight dope on Snorkel availability?