| |
The new Bad Boy is coming--Bigger, Faster, Smarter
and Red all over
By J.D. Hawk
 |
What tips the scale at nearly 30 tons, can move up
a steep hill faster than a cheetah in full sprint and outmaneuver your passenger
car with its computerized All-Wheel-Steer computerized intelligence? It's the new
top of the line Pierce Aerial Fire Truck coming soon to station number seven in Otay
Ranch.
The fire truck, not to be confused with its counterpart the fire engine, would easily
overpower its puny partner in a tug-of-war with its 500-horse power that guarantees
massive torque. And with a ladder that can reach 105 feet, it's a quarter taller
than the alternative hybrid fire trucks/engines called Quints which are used by the
National City Fire Department.
The purpose of placing the $625 thousand dollar truck (3/4 million dollars when it's
fully equipped) in Otay Ranch is to cut the fire response time significantly. "It
takes 15 to 20 minutes to get a ladder truck to the east side of Chula Vista,"
Fire Captain Robert Hill Sr. said.
This is because there was only one ladder truck serving the entire city of Chula
Vista, and that truck was stationed at the west end of the city at 447 F St. Now
residents of Otay Ranch and EastLake will have aptly equipped firefighters saving
their homes with speed. "We want to put 13 bodies on the fire ground within
10 minutes," Deputy Fire Chief Jim Geering said. "That comes out to three
engines and a truck. It's a must. You have to have a truck at any fire."
In addition to being closer to fires that break out in eastern Chula Vista, the new
truck will cut time with a couple of features that allow it to maneuver through streets
previously too narrow. "Where it really comes into play is in the eastern part
of the city where you have more pedestrian friendly neighborhoods: narrow streets,
no parking, one side parking and tight turns," Deputy Fire Chief Geering said.
A computer will steer the back wheels opposite the direction to the front wheels,
allowing the massive truck to squeeze around corners previously unbreachable, making
a stark contrast between the old and the new fire trucks. "Oh, It's night and
day! Like this construction here on Fourth and F, the older truck cannot make that
right now. It cannot make that turn. It's got to go around. There are some turns
you cannot make," Deputy Fire Chief Geering said.
For the especially tricky corners, the new fire truck has a special feature called
"Crab Mode" that has Steve Guaderrama, 18-year fire mechanic of the Chula
Vista fire department, especially excited. "Crab Mode allows the fire truck
to drive sideways. The truck needs to be slowed down to about 5 mph, but you can
move it at about a 45 degree angle. That's tighter than a passenger car."
The new fire truck also carries an arsenal of forcible entry tools that are needed
for fire fighters to bust open a home that is well secured and locked up. "A
house at two in the morning will be locked up. There's a fire. We need to get access
to the house or building," Chief Geering said. "We've got all the tools
to do it. We call them our 'keys'. They're not really keys. But they're really big
keys, you know?"
Deputy Fire Chief Geering is referring to axes, ram bars, pry bars, chain saws and
the Jaws of life. They are used not only for breaking into homes, but for a vast
array of rescue scenarios, like ventilation. When there is a fire, the top of the
building needs to be opened up. "If you're boiling a pot of water and then take
the lid off, all the heat escapes and it starts to cool down. Same with a house,"
Deputy Fire Chief Geering said.
With a fire truck, firefighters can run up the ladder onto the building tops and
use pipe poles and chain saws to make holes in the roof, allowing smoke and heat
to escape. This not only cools things down, but helps the firefighters inside a building
with their visibility. "If there's no visibility, you can't see your hand in
front of you. All you can do is listen for the crackle of the fire, go towards the
heat and hopefully see a glow. This [ventilating a building] helps clear things up,
at least at ground level," Deputy Fire Chief Geering said. The ladder itself
has a pipe that can spray water from above the fire, provided it's working in conjunction
with a fire engine.
The Pierce Aerial Fire Truck that was displayed briefly at Otay Ranch's fire station
seven in December, will be traded for the older Smeal Aerial fire truck that had
long served the city of Chula Vista at station one at 447 F St. When another brand
new Pierce Aerial Truck arrives within the next couple months, it will then replace
the older Smear at Otay Ranch, giving the city of Chula Vista a total of three fire
trucks--one for the east, one for the west and the older, remaining one for back
up. The life expectancy for a fire truck is 15 to 20 years, not bad for the 750 thousand
dollar investment, a price tag which falls considerably short of a single home at
EastLake's Tour de Elegance.
Contact J.D. Hawk |
|
