Apparatus Designer:
Larry H. Stevens
775 224 0476
.
BACKGROUND
Rattlesnake Fire Protection District (RFPD) covers Elbert County, Colo., the second-fastest growing county in the United States. Under the leadership of Chief Judy Cooper and Assistant Chief Dale Goetz, the all-volunteer department operates out of three stations that are five miles apart in a largely rural area. In addition to fighting fires, the 32 members run ALS ambulances and perform all transports. RFPD protects a population of 6,500. The 66-square-mile area consists mostly of grass-covered rolling hills at a 7,000-foot elevation. Homes are exclusively single-family dwellings, some with outbuildings, ranging from 2,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet. Most have basements. They sit on 3-acre, 5-acre or 35-acre lots. The only commercial buildings in the district are the three fire stations and a golf course clubhouse. All four are, or will soon be, fully sprinkled.
The district has only one fire hydrant. Primary water supply consists of 10,000-gallon to 30,000-gallon cisterns spaced 1.1 miles to two miles apart in built-up areas. One-thousand-gpm electric pumps supply overhead fills. Fill time from the cisterns averages less than 90 seconds.
Until the year 2000, the department ran two triple-combination pumpers with 1,500-gpm pumps and 1,000-gallon tanks, two brush rigs, two 3,000-gallon tenders and a pair of ALS ambulances. All but two roads in the district are dirt. There are no streetlights, curbs or gutters. From most points in this remote area, the nearest school or store is five to 10 miles away. The department runs about two structure fires a year. Mutual aid is about 10 miles from any of the stations.
With an ISO rating of 9/10 in 1998, the department began to explore ISO fire insurance rating ramifications for the district. Research revealed that district residents paid the highest possible structure-insurance rates. To earn a better rating, the department had to prove it could sustain 250 gpm for two hours while following ISO rules. RFPD set its goal at Class 5 district wide. That rating is as good as some big career departments, like Los Angeles County, Houston and New York City, that have Class 4 ratings in areas with hydrants. Achieving a Class 5 rating would improve rates significantly for commercial, homeowners’ and renters’ insurance. With no increase in population, the district could help residents save more than $300 million in insurance costs over 15 years. In 2001 the department earned their Class 5.
The department made ISO rate improvement one of its goals for 1999-2000. Achieving it will give the department the second-best rating in Colorado and the third-best rating in the United States for a department without a water system.
The Plan
After analyzing area fire risks and defenses, RFPD drew up a simple plan to improve its fire protection services. Rural departments, and any other department thinking of buying new apparatus, can use this process as a guide. First, determine your goals. RFPD made a list of 10 key objectives:
1. Maintain a volunteer fire force.
2. Simplify operations.
3. Dramatically reduce training time.
4. Standardize the fleet.
5. Plan for minimal staffing operations.
6. Reduce the load carried by firefighters.
7. Acquire more dependable all-terrain apparatus.
8. Address the conflagration potential of any major wildland event.
9. Greatly improve firefighter safety.
10. Offer the best possible, state-of-the-art fire and rescue services for fire district customers.
After RFPD helped educate area residents on its plan for improvement, more than 92 percent voted to spend the money necessary to update the department’s apparatus. In only a few months, the department had ordered three fully equipped rigs.
One big upgrade was the replacement of all first-out engines with tender/ladder service-company compressed-air-foam-system (CAFS) engines. Under the improvement plan, all three stations were slated for identical units running first out. In the United States, the fire service rarely standardizes equipment. At RFPD, however, firefighters can simultaneously perform drills on equivalent apparatus at three stations. In this district, every piece of apparatus is the same. All trucks start alike and pump in the same way. Commonality extends to such details as how nozzles flush and saws start. All firefighters train by the Rattlesnake method.
APPARATUS WALK AROUND
A complete walk around is available on the bottom of this page under the Photo Story link. This view shows the front of the apparatus bristling with dual guns, extrication gear and flood light off the front bumper, two 200 foot attack lines off the bumper, flood lights all around, hard suction preconnects, command cab, poly body, all wheel drive and a drop down ladder rack with 24 and 35 foot extension ladders.
This view shows a never before built feature is the pole mounted revolving water level lights. Dual 1500 watt forward facing floodlights on the cab brow. A pair of 200 foot CAFS handlines, two 50 to 350 gpm cab controlled monitors for pump and roll, a roof mounted thermal imager with dual flat panel headup displays in the cab, a 200 foot cord reel and 200 foot hydraulic reel with atttached 750 watt flood light and combination extrication tool. A roof mounted 6000 watt light mast with command light.
Dual 3 inch supply beds hold 3000 feet of hose. Tail board donut preconnect beds hold four attack lines with 1000 feet of 1" or 1 3/4" hose. Rear and side dump valves are visible. 1500 watt fixed flood lights two per side stand ready. A 25 foot squirrel tail hard suction hose with a low lift strainer for 15 second deployment. A spare 15 footer of 5 inch and 3 inch hard suction is in the well below. A rear vision camera is provided for backing.
A red gong is on the back wall of the cab attached to all the vehicle warning systems and to the automatic electronic accountability system to indicate man down. A drop down rack has a 3000 gallon drop tank and a roof ladder. A 25 foot 3 inch squirrel tail suction and a spare length of 3 inch and 5 inch suction hose is available below it. Under the pump panel is a pair of 200 foot cord reels and one 200 foot air reel. The cord reels have 750 watt flood or 1000 watt pole tripod lights attached on both side. The air reel has four 24 inch air bags and an air chisel attached with a regulator ready to go. The air reel is replaced with a hydraulic reel on the other side with a hydraulic ram attached ready to go.
The in cab kitchen came with everything you imagine loaded from the factory just like every other item on the fire truck from hose to equipment mas wounted and loaded ready to go. One air pack seat on the back cab wall was removed and replaced by a refrigerator freezer. On top of that is dual industrial high capacity coffee makers. On top of that is a microwave oven. To one side is 5 cases of canned pop or juice and 11 gallons of drinking water on tap that also feeds the coffee maker. To the other side is 21 cubic feet of food storage.
The drop down rack is visible in this view.
HOW HAVE THE NEW DARLEY TRUCKS MADE RATTLESNAKE A BETTER FIRE DEPARTMENT?
"Of course the new Darley custom made vehicles have helped make us a better
fire department.
Motivation: When you have new equipment, shiny new fire trucks with lots of
“toys” (foam, thermal imagers, gadgets) the volunteers want to play with
this, and when they play, they learn how to operate this equipment.
However, though conceptually simple, they really are complicated to operate
and require a lot of individual dedication and interest on the part of the
volunteer before they are proficient. I have attended some trainings and
watched Scott teach the newer people about the proper way to use the foam
system, for example, and have been in awe of his knowledge of the little
nuances necessary to be adept with this system.
The color-coding concept appears to be unique and an excellent idea.
The concept of building three identical trucks also appears to be unique and
also an excellent idea.
The tools that came with the truck – the foam, the thermal imagers, all are
used on incidents routinely. Last year I had written the Board thanking
them for their foresight to purchase the proper equipment to do the job
right. There had been a lightning strike to a home; the fixed thermal
imager had showed nothing. It was only when our firefighters took the
handheld thermal imager and pointed it at the roof that they found heat.
Without this equipment, the structure surely would have rekindled after we
had left the scene.
The down side is that nearly half of our firefighters have been with the
department for less than two years; when they joined, the trucks were
already here. So they take this equipment for granted. It is hard to tell
them that we truly are unique. Occasionally we interface with a neighboring
department and see how “the other half lives.” All MY firefighters know of
the fire service is Rattlesnake – it is hard to tell them that most of the
county is not as fortunate as we are.
I know there are some design and training flaws, but looking at the BIG
picture, I see that these vehicles have benefited Rattlesnake immensely.
But, the dirt roads are shaking the heck out of them, and I doubt that they
will last ten years.
Suggestions for future vehicles: incorporate a porta-potty into the design.
ISO rating: I know that these trucks weren’t solely responsible for our new
rating, but they did help. I can tell you, though, that when I go across
the country and talk about Rattlesnake to career firefighters, what gets
their attention is when I tell them that we have an ISO rating of 5, and
then add, with no fire hydrants, tender-shuttle only. That is so much fun,
to see them get incredulous.
I have been getting phone calls and e-mails from people around the country,
continuing at a rate of about one to two per month, all wanting to know
about our trucks and cisterns. One guy from Texas said he had read about
us in Fire-Rescue; and another from Alaska apparently had done a search on
the internet on Colorado fire departments. The latest was a phone call from
a guy in New Mexico who wanted to know about our cisterns. When I was in
New Orleans, a friend of Vicki Murphy’s also stopped me and said that he had
heard some good things about Rattlesnake. And when I was at the Fire
Academy, one of my classmates lived about 40 miles south of the Darley plant
where the trucks were being built, and when he found out that I was the
Rattlesnake Chief, he couldn’t stop talking about the trucks, since
apparently the folks at Darley had invited him up to see them when they were
under construction. I still get occasional questions about the ice cream
maker – I tell them that that was in a Texas truck, we just have a microwave
oven, refrigerator, and coffee maker. "Fire Chief Chief Cooper
Table of Contents:
NEW 2004 Turbo Drafts and Apparatus Designs
Photo Story
Movie
Tank Farm Fire
Complete Specs
Free ISO Book
Operating Instructions
Measured Drawings
If We Did It Again
Another Great Volunteer Department
Still Another Great Volunteer Department
