Tanker Designs

[smokediver6104]

We too were awarded a tanker in the first round. We had planned on going with a poly T tank as well until I read the book "Safe Operation of Fire Tankers" produced by FEMA. In it it states that the most dangerous tankers are T shaped tankers that carries large ammounts of water.
Elliptical is safer with 2000 gallons but it does not give you the hose storage that the T tank style gives you.
We ended getting a tanker that was less flashey than some of the big name brands and went with 2500 gallon stainless with a 500 pump and tandom for about $170. We also got a good deal because the chassis was on their grounds and we dodged that EPA upcharge.
It came from a company called Deep South Fire Trucks out of Mississippi.
We should have it in Febuary.

[Catch22]

We too were awarded a tanker in the first round. We had planned on going with a poly T tank as well until I read the book "Safe Operation of Fire Tankers" produced by FEMA. In it it states that the most dangerous tankers are T shaped tankers that carries large ammounts of water.
Elliptical is safer with 2000 gallons but it does not give you the hose storage that the T tank style gives you.
We ended getting a tanker that was less flashey than some of the big name brands and went with 2500 gallon stainless with a 500 pump and tandom for about $170. We also got a good deal because the chassis was on their grounds and we dodged that EPA upcharge.
It came from a company called Deep South Fire Trucks out of Mississippi.
We should have it in Febuary.

Keep in mind, another aspect to be considered is center-of-gravity. Don't get me wrong, I don't think a guy can go wrong with an elliptical. We were able to stretch our buck ($190,000) and go from what we had been looking at (an elliptical) and go with a full pumper-style body with the grant we got last year.

Another big aspect of the book you cited is training. Make sure your guys get a lot of training and wheel time in a controlled environment before they jump behind the wheel. A number of the tip-over incidents caused by weight transfer can be avoided before they're an issue.

We looked at a Deep South truck when we were trying to make a decision. They're nice trucks! I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

[Ranburne]

One thing to keep in mind. Decide what you want the truck to do before specing it. If you want the truck to shuttle water, get a truck designed to do that. I have seen departments in our county get monster trucks that were supposed to be tankers. These trucks can't get into many of the places they need to go. Trying to make one truck do everything will make a truck that is not real good at anything.

[schief13]

Tanker Designs

Hello All... We are a 1st round awardee for the replacement of our current tanker. In our narrative we stated that we would replace our current steel tank with a rectangular poly tank. We are find out by talking to several mfg reps so far is that there are other options such as poly elliptical, fiberglass ect. all which claim to be NFPA compliant and have lifetime warranties. I am thinking that as long as the truck is a tanker and is NFPA compliant it would meet the grant requirements. Has anyone had any similar experiences?

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Congrats on the award.

Chassis type, # of FF seats, pump size, etc, etc that you had in the application have to stay the same (or be greater) but the minor details like tank shape, name brands, and stuff like that don't.

- Brian

[ktb9780]

Congrats on the award.

Chassis type, # of FF seats, pump size, etc, etc that you had in the application have to stay the same (or be greater) but the minor details like tank shape, name brands, and stuff like that don't.

- Brian

I was recently very surprised by a statement from an FPS that allowed the department to deviate from a stated 1800 gal. to a lower 1250 volume tank. It in essence stated that as long as it was at least 1250, they did not care and it did not require an amendment. We reconfirmed that statement with another FPS, just to CYA, and recieved the same answer. I must admit I was quite puzzled and surprised at their response to that question.

[utfd701]

We too have run into some changes on our proposed truck (Freightliner chassis issue). Spoke with AFG rep, per my conversation with him they have 4 issues on our particular apparatus that me must meet per our project summary:
1-Tank size (min. 2500 gallons)
2-Pump size (min. 1250 gpm)
3-Cab size (min. 4 man cab)
4-NFPA 1901 compliant.
Other than that, the rest is semantics.
He could care less about the chassis, the shape, size, color ......
you get the point. Call or shoot them an E-mail, they seem to be more than happy to help.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

I meant cab size, not chassis type. You're right they don't care commercial/custom.

Interesting now isn't it. One set of FPSs says tank & pump don't matter, others do. I'd side with the 'do' group because that's been the MO in the past. Score is based on all elements of the application, so it is arguable that some got tankers because they said 2000 whereas 1250 gallons wouldn't have been the same solution. It's not, technically and practically, shuttling water with 1250gal trucks doesn't work real well compared to 2000gal trucks.

[ktb9780]

I meant cab size, not chassis type. You're right they don't care commercial/custom.

Interesting now isn't it. One set of FPSs says tank & pump don't matter, others do. I'd side with the 'do' group because that's been the MO in the past. Score is based on all elements of the application, so it is arguable that some got tankers because they said 2000 whereas 1250 gallons wouldn't have been the same solution. It's not, technically and practically, shuttling water with 1250gal trucks doesn't work real well compared to 2000gal trucks.

I totally agree Brian, that's why I made sure the department got it from two seperate sources, in writing, before I gave them the go ahead to do as they were advised. It seemed totally illogical for them to make that statement.

[RES81CUE]

We too were awarded a tanker in the first round. We had planned on going with a poly T tank as well until I read the book "Safe Operation of Fire Tankers" produced by FEMA. In it it states that the most dangerous tankers are T shaped tankers that carries large ammounts of water.
Elliptical is safer with 2000 gallons but it does not give you the hose storage that the T tank style gives you.
We ended getting a tanker that was less flashey than some of the big name brands and went with 2500 gallon stainless with a 500 pump and tandom for about $170. We also got a good deal because the chassis was on their grounds and we dodged that EPA upcharge.
It came from a company called Deep South Fire Trucks out of Mississippi.
We should have it in Febuary.

Deep South builds a pretty good truck. Our county has bought several tankers from them including a new one last month.

[patterson242]

Where can I find the book "Safe Operation of Fire Tankers" produced by FEMA?

[BoxAlarm187]

Where can I find the book "Safe Operation of Fire Tankers" produced by FEMA?

This link from Fire Chief magazine will probably help...

http://www.firechief.com/news/firefighting_new_manual_safe/

...until you can get a hard copy of it, here's a link to the .PDF version of the report...

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-248.pdf

Enoy!

[Catch22]

You can also go the the publications area and order it, here Just do a search for "tankers." I also recommend the "Emergency Vehicle Safety Initiative."

[patterson242]

Thank You box alarm187 and catch22

[Not2L84U2]

We were able to stretch our buck ($190,000) and go from what we had been looking at (an elliptical) and go with a full pumper-style body with the grant we got last year.

Catch,

What company did you go through if you don't mind my asking?