Insights from Bill Post on Recent Comments About CFD Spare Apparatus for Tower Ladder 10 and Squad 1:
One of the advantages of Tower Ladder 10’s location is that it's less than a mile and a half away from Fleet Management, which means repairs or maintenance on their rig can be done quickly whenever needed. However, the oldest front-line tower ladders in the department are three 1996 HME/LTIs stationed at Tower Ladders 21, 37, and 39—each now 16 years old. The CFD has generally aimed to replace its rigs within 10 to 15 years of frontline service. That said, Tower Ladder 21’s unit still looks in decent condition and has been handling more calls lately. Tower ladders are listed on the city of Chicago’s official 2012 buying plan issued by the Department of Procurement Services, which indicates that the city plans to issue bids for new units. This shows some level of commitment, but the timeline remains unclear. My main concern is about the spare Snorkel currently operating as Squad 1. It’s the last remaining 55-foot Snorkel in the fleet. I understand that another one was retired over the past few years. Most people who follow this site probably know that the CFD has been looking to replace all three Snorkel squads for quite some time, and that this has even been included in the city’s official procurement plan. The issue lies with American LaFrance (ALF), which holds the manufacturing rights to the Snorkel brand after acquiring them from the original company that went out of business over a decade ago. Despite this, ALF refuses to build new Snorkels. The only alternative is to rehab and remount an older Snorkel onto a new chassis and body, something several departments have already done. But as the number of Snorkels decreases, finding suitable units for remounting becomes increasingly difficult. I’ve heard there may be other manufacturers willing to design a similar aerial device, but the cost would be extremely high. It would make more sense if ALF simply sold the rights to the Snorkel or agreed to rebuild them. Even though they’re not as common today, there are still a number of major and smaller fire departments using Snorkels. For example, the Memphis Fire Department has used two single-piece Snorkel squads with remounted units on newer chassis, and Philadelphia also operates two full-size Snorkels that have been rebuilt. Given that both Memphis and Chicago rely heavily on smaller Snorkel squads, it might be worth considering a class-action lawsuit against ALF to either get them to produce new units or allow another manufacturer to build them. The irony is that the Chicago Fire Department and its old repair shops were actually where the original Snorkel concept began. Those same shops even outfitted the first Snorkel for fire service use. Now, ALF owns the original Snorkel (which served as Snorkel 1 and Snorkel Squad 3) as part of their historic collection, even though they never built or modified the unit themselves. The boom and platform were actually constructed by the Pitman Corporation. It really feels like ALF is holding the fire service—and especially the Chicago Fire Department—hostage.Household Transportation Vehicle,Four Wheeled Box Car,3 wheel tricycle
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