IN Fire Department Replaces 28-Year-Old Tanker with Pumper-Tanker

By Al Petrillo, Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment

The Fremont (IN) Fire Department wanted to replace a 2008 CSI Spartan tanker that had outlived its useful life and decided to go with a pumper-tanker that could serve all the non-hydranted areas of its 90-square-mile fire district, as well as complement the department’s first-due rescue-pumper.

Eric Hufnagle, Fremont’s fire chief, says the department has three full-time paid firefighters and 31 paid on-call firefighters operating out of a single station. “We currently run a 2018 Spencer rescue-pumper, a 2012 78-foot Rosenbauer aerial quint, two CSI tankers, two brush trucks, a basic life support (BLS) medical unit, a rescue boat, and a dive trailer,” Hufnagle points out. “We needed to replace one of the CSI tankers and decided to go back to Spencer for a pumper-tanker because we had such a good experience with them when we bought a rescue-pumper.”

The Fremont pumper-tanker has a side-mount 1,500-gpm Waterous CSU pump, an 1,800-gallon water tank, an FRC™ governor, dual 4-inch tank-to-pump valves, and a Trident™ dual air primer.

Ben Bregg, sales engineer for Spencer Manufacturing, says the pumper-tanker that Fremont acquired is built on a Spartan Metro Star™ long four door (LFD) cab and chassis with seating for six firefighters. It has a Spencer Solid-Poly® body, a single rear axle, and is powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 engine and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission. Bregg adds that the rig has a side-mount 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) Waterous CSU pump, an 1,800-gallon water tank, an FRC™ governor, dual 4-inch tank-to-pump valves, and a Trident™ dual air primer.

Lighting on the Spencer-built pumper-tanker includes a Will-Burt LED light tower.

Hufnagle notes that the pumper-tanker has a 5-inch suction plumbed to the heavy-duty extended front bumper, which also has a Federal Signal™ Q2B siren and a compartment for 100 feet of 1¾-inch hose. The pumper-tanker has three 150-foot crosslays of 1¾-inch, 2-inch, and 2½-inch hose; a booster reel with 100 feet of one-inch hose; and a Task Force Tips (TFT) Crossfire deck gun with a TFT Extend-A-Gun.

The pumper-tanker has three Newton 10-inch dump valves, one on each side forward of the rear axle and one at the rear of the truck.

“Off the rear of the pumper-tanker we have four preconnected hoselines,” Hufnagle says. “We have a 200-foot 2½-inch line connected to a TFT Blitzfire™ ground monitor, two 2-inch attack lines of 200 feet each, and one 1¾-inch hoseline of 200 feet. The hosebed also carries 500 feet of 5-inch large diameter hose (LDH) and 600 feet of 3-inch hose. We also have 350 feet of 1¾-inch hose and 2-inch hose rolls in compartments. With all our options for handlines, we never have to be concerned about where we position the vehicle.”

The rig has through-the-tank ladder, hard suction hose and pike pole storage, holding a 24-foot two-section extension ladder, a 14-foot roof ladder, a 10-foot folding attic ladder, and a 17-foot Little Giant ladder.

Bregg adds that the rig also has a 4-inch Fireman’s Friend fill valve at the rear, three Newton 10-inch electric dump valves positioned at the sides and rear of the vehicle, and LED tank level gauges at the pump panel and rear of the rig. He says the pumper-tanker also has D&S hosebed covers; ROM™ roll-up doors on the compartments; Slide-Master™ roll-out trays and aluminum tool boards; a Spencer rear access ladder; Solid-Poly rub rails and tool boards; a backup camera; and through-the-tank ladder, hard suction hose, and pike pole storage, holding a 24-foot two-section extension ladder, a 14-foot roof ladder, a 10-foot folding attic ladder, and a 17-foot Little Giant ladder.

Fremont’s new pumper tanker operates at a structure fire in a non-hydranted part of its fire district. (Photo 6 courtesy of Fremont Fire Department.)

Bregg says the rig has LED headlights, a Whelen Freedom IV LED lighbar with rotobeams, a Whelen LED warning light package, Whelen LED scene lights, an electric cord reel, and a Will-Burt™ LED light tower.

Hufnagle points out the new Spencer pumper-tanker, “Is our busiest apparatus. It runs a lot of mutual aid with other neighboring fire departments, responds to all non-hydranted areas in our service area, and also to all motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) for its big water tank, so there’s no need to roll two engines.”

ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist who has served as a newspaper reporter, editor, and magazine writer and is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.