Rural FD Tankers

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Permalink Reply by Robert B Pierce on November 21, 2007 at 7:13pm

Until this year my Volunteer Department had always run home made tankers. They were usually old fuel oil trucks that had been converted to haul water. They served us well for many years, and there are still alot of Departments still running them in our County. We we lucky enough to receive an AFG this year to replace our 1985 Ford tanker. When we wrote the Grant we cited accidents involving home made tankers and the age factor, millage etc. Hopefully we will never have to go back to those days.

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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on November 21, 2007 at 10:36pm

During our EVOC class we learned that a majority of trucks that are converted to tankers, the departments remove the baffles to allow water flow from either compartments, and furthermore they are way over the weight limits for the truck. Water weighs more than fuel and thats a classic error. Maintainance is a major issue also with most rural departments, with trucks only getting older with older parts and tires contributing to a large quantity of Tanker accidents. (look at some NIOSH reports, it's stunning) If you get lucky to get a good one, make sure it gets thoroughly inspected to make sure its road worthy not only for your benefit, but for the benefit of each and every member of the community on the road with you. If you cause an accident because the vehical wasn't right, the department will suffer the consequences for years to come.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on November 23, 2007 at 1:46pm

What's spooky was that we did have our truck maintained over the summer - new springs, new tires, and a tank leak repair. A week later the truck was en route to a barn fire and the NEW right rear spring shackle broke sending the truck fishtailing. Several hundred feet and 180 degrees later the truck stopped, thankfully without rolling. It needed new springs AGAIN and new tires, and we also re-geared it to lower the top speed.

We are considering a tractor-trailer type of rig next time around, but the drawback to that is the small number of people who would be able to drive it.

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Permalink Reply by Scott and his dog, "Tater" on February 12, 2008 at 10:13pm

We have a tractor trailer rig at our FD in Central FL. It is a converted milk hauling 18 wheeler. It hauls 6000 gallons of water and has a dump tank on board. I would say, not to get one. It is VERY difficult to drive ( I guess an automatic would be better than the manual shift that we have) and is even harder to maneuver the thing on scene. We have used it at 3 different fires in the 9 yrs that I have been here. All were rural area nursery fires. Once it got stuck in the dirt, blocking the way for other dept.'s tankers to get to the scene. If we had something smaller, we would have used it more often as only a few people are qualified to drive the tanker that we have. Sure, it hauls a lot of water, but it is not very maneuverable, wasting a lot of time getting to the scene, getting back out and refilling. I think a smaller more maneuverable tanker would be able to deliver as much water as this monstrocity. Nobody WANTS to drive it anyway! I hope this helps. Scott

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Permalink Reply by Oldman on July 3, 2008 at 6:38pm

I'd be willing to bet you needed to replace the foam in the seats too!

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Permalink Reply by Justin Stepien on November 27, 2007 at 10:59pm

Yeah we still have One left and Will for at least 5 more years.... We only have like 5 guys who will drive this rig though..... Its Slow, Heavy, Cumbersome..... Its gets were its going, just not very fast!

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Permalink Reply by Crockett on November 30, 2007 at 11:00pm

Not having any hydrants in our district, we rely heavily on our 9400-gal. (18-wheel) tanker for any extended fire.
Oddly, under FL statutes, ANYBODY can drive the tanker TO an emergency scene (lights & sirens), but one must posess a valid CDL to return to the station w/o lights & sirens. Go figure :S
We (AFD Firefighters) are currently studying for our CDLs, as the chief and two of our vols are the only ones 'allowed' to drive it.
We did, however, just purchase a new (2002) Freightliner truck that was in excellent condition, as it used to haul a super-sized load mobile MRI unit around. Unfortunately, our budget won't allow us to replace our 1965...yes,1965...Ruan fuel tanker until mid-2008. With regular maintenence and some extra TLC, it has served us well. We are also going to upgrade to a PTO pump on the new trailer which will make things a lot easier.

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Permalink Reply by Arthur T. Kline on December 2, 2007 at 4:13pm

Until one year ago we used a ex-fuel truck on a 1976 Chevy C60, gas engine, hydrolic brakes, 2000 gal. tank with no baffels for a tanker. Ran good, little slow, but turning corners or going down hills was an adventure! It was taken out of service when it was no longer inspectable. Which was a very good decision! We just placed into service a E-One Tradition 1800 gal Tanker with 500 GPM pump into service. It is a Frieghtliner M2 chassis with 330 Cummins, Auto Trans, Air brakes, back up camera and 3 side dump.
We have come a long way since I came on board. Homemade tanker and homemade brush truck, 1958 2nd due Engine, overloaded 1st due engine, and beat ex-amb for a rescue.

We have learned our lesson on the whole self service maintenance issue too. Everything goes out to the local heavy truck dealer for maintenance! We cover our butts. Nothing is done half___ anymore! Too much is at stake! Lives depend on our trucks! Not just the lives of our customers, but ours too. This is probably the most critical thing the fire service faces. Stop the apparatus deaths that take our brothers and sisters away from us.

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Permalink Reply by Bobby on December 2, 2007 at 4:44pm

We have 1 Tender (Tanker) that we got from the county road department. It was a culvert flusher. They dismounted the culvert stuff and we dropped it at a local metal fab shop for tank construction and pump installation (Darley 500 gpm PTO pump). When we were finished I think we had about $40,000 into it. It's a great truck, the chassis is old, but it's legal and get to the scene well enough.

One thing around here is that our insurance company insisted that we not allow our water tenders (Tankers) respond Code 3 to any alarms, and really it makes sense, you're never gonna gain any time with lights and siren.

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Permalink Reply by Glen "Darren" Borror on December 16, 2007 at 3:27pm

One of the departments I ran on still has in service a 1979 International single axle that was originally used at an oil rigging company, it was donated to the department when the department crashed a tanker and a brush truck (before my time). I had a near miss incident with it one day when I was going down hill towards a stop sign. The brakes failed and I went straight through the intersection (that I wanted to turn left at) at about 25 mph. Fortunately, everyone saw me coming and had stopped to let me through (my community pretty good at that). Upon inspection at a shop, it was discovered that the brake drum had failed/cracked. That was the cause of the truck not being able to stop. The truck had 2200 gal. of water aboard. Too much weight for that truck. Later that year, a new tank was purchased at 1800 gal. capacity. That has seemed to help with the weight issue. Out side of that incident, no other problems have ever been noticed in the quality of the truck. Only other misshaps were driver error only. The best thing I could tell a department trying to save money, use care in picking an excellent chasis that will sustain the load you are about to impose on it, (think about it, how much weight is being pushed when you are breaking hard responding to a call when that water shifts!!). How much money do you save if you kill somebody with a piece of apparatus not designed for the purpose you are trying to use it for?

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Permalink Reply by matt on December 16, 2007 at 10:29pm

we used to but a few yrs ago we got a fema grant to get a new tanker so now we have a nice 2005 peterbuilt tanker 4000 gallons onboard....

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Permalink Reply by James on December 18, 2007 at 8:10am

The county that i live has had home made tankers as long as can remember. From old milk trucks to fuel oil tankers. I thank the last one in the county gone now it belonged a vol. company that i help out and grow up in it was a beast with very few that could drive it. It was an old 1978 MACK with an 2300 gal. tank you miss a gear you had to stop and start all over. But it was in acc. running cold per the s.o.g.'s a few years back doing water shuttles to woods fire and got run off the road by logging truck the driver did a good job getting back on the road but while getting it back under control it hit a van headon killing the driver he a paster at local church it hit home for alot of people ai the fire dept. and the comm. the family did not want any charges brought up to the driver or the fire co. it was rebuilt new paint and newer lights and was in service till earlier this year when it was sold to a another fire co. outside our county when one came in. We all need to safe while driving a homemade or a custom truck. Be safe out there!

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