Thread: Fire Department Apparatus

Fire department apparatus

If you could have one upgrade to your apparatus, without money being a concern, what would it be?

For smaller depts. and those with staffing issues, a would love more depts to follow Chicago's example and emphasize the Quints. A mult-purpose vehicle which has many advantages and only a few negatives, IMVHO. Not right for everyone, but an option I would like to see more of.

Absolutely on the Quints! Quints became popular around metro-Atlanta in the mid 90's and we traded our LTI Aerial for one. MAN I loved that thing. The one upgrade I would make to every piece of apparatus, however, would be inermediate life support at minimum (fluids & King airway) for every engine. Now, having said that, I realize that every state does not have the "I" or NREMT "A" level available pursuant to their law. So, it would have to be changed. In south Jersey, when I was working on the gut buckets there, the move to intermediate began and all the volunteer rescue squad & paramedic lobbyists set up shop in Trenton. Typical mentality: They won't need to call US if they're able to stabilize the patient so quickly. So goes the politics. South Jersey (Atlantic County) has all ALS now anyway. Atlanticare beat out the old contractor (BLS).

Uh-oh. Are we starting fire service EMS vs. third service vs. private again? Let's not.
Just kidding, Fed. I know that wasn't your intention. ILS and ALS engines are a good idea. An old idea that is slowly gaining steam again is the "fly car". Fire departments that want to do EMS 1st response are re-learning that it is cheaper to purchase and operate 1-2 man trucks or SUVs than 3-5 man Engines.

Yeah - that's a beautiful thing. We do that at my volly dept now. We roll in a Superlynx mini rescue/pumper; or an F-250 for med calls/MVCs.