Another Fire Apparatus Slips Out Of Gear...

[x635 4,066]

Newton sits on the border of Boston. It's home to the Gamewell company, Boston College, and is a very wealthy suburb.

They have several E-One engines and ladders. Some have been refurbished. The city, despite having wealth, is very skimpy when it comes to purchasing apparatus, much like many MA cities.

Thoughts and prayers are with the injured firefighter.

A Newton (Mass.) firefighter was transported to the hospital with serious injuries after an overnight accident involving his own truck. Firefighters were operating at a dumpster fire before midnight last night when the truck "slipped out of gear" and rolled over a firefighter. Firefighters had to use the jaws to extricate him and was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Several other firefighters suffered smoke and diesel inhalation from the rescue effort.

Reports are that the FF saw the truck coming at him and it hit a big tree...that's what stopped it....the rest of the crew went into a rescue mode to free him as he was pinned underneath the truck. His injuries were a compound fracture to the left forearm. The FF is reported to have a double fracture of the shoulder blade and a heavy scalp laceration from the forward back that they were stapling back in place....but no internal injuries....as per a chief officer.

NFD officials said this was the third equipment-related accident in the past several weeks for the department. In April, 2 FF's were hospitalized after the rear springs on a piece of apparatus failed. FF's blame some of the accidents on aging equipment.

Take Care-BE CAREFUL.

BillyG

The Secret List 5-15-07 / 0917 hours

[Guest alsfirefighter]

WHEEL CHOCKS!!!

Remember to put those wheel chocks down pump operators! Not just the downhill side either, if the trucks slips out of gear and goes back to the drive axle it will lurch forward. Protect yourself and protect your crews!

[Guest]

Oh.....an E-One with problems.....who knew!

(please ignore the e-one in my picture)

[Guest]

No matter what the yr, make or model the rig is, it doesn't excuse you from not chocking the wheels when you leave it.

[mfc2257 464]

Well it's easy to blame E-One here, but honestly the transfer case, engine, pump, and transmission aren't parts that are built by E-One, they are built by Hale, Cat, Allison and their competitors.

On the other hand, blaming E-One for using crappy body parts, poor fit and finish, sub-par wiring, and shotty paint, etc. is well within reason.

On another E-One note, they build their own ladders both steel and aluminum.... Does anyone know if they've ever had a manufacturer related issue that has resulted in a aeriel device failure?

[grumpyff 1,159]

No matter what the yr, make or model the rig is, it doesn't excuse you from not chocking the wheels when you leave it.

←

Yes, ALWAYS CHOCK THE WHEELS!!! But also be aware that the chocks may not hold the apparatus in place, especially the older smaller chocks that are still out there.

[x635 4,066]

I heard from a friend who works 911 EMS (AMR) in that community that the truck "jumped" the chocks that were down...

[sr71 1]

we had a close call like this at our practical at a pump ops course. our first due jumped out of gear while it was pumping. and we have a marion so dont blame it all on e-one.

Edited May 15, 2007 by sr71

[CHIEFPHIL 90]

First, lets hope and think about the firefighter.... lets hope he makes a speedy recovery

Then.... what about the brakes..?? were the maxi's engaged ? Doesnt sound like it .

As for E-one, we dont know for sure if it was. remember everything under the body was built by some-one else. Since it popped out of gear, why dont we bash the tranny or pump maker ? If the brakes failed why dont we bash bendix ?

By the way, my dept has an E-one and we would by another one.

[Guest partyrock]

Yes, ALWAYS CHOCK THE WHEELS!!!  But also be aware that the chocks may not hold the apparatus in place, especially the older smaller chocks that are still out there.

←

If your dept isn't using the finger clippers you guys really have to start putting some pressure on your dept. The smaller chocks are great for MVA's but useless for fire apperatus...just ask anyone who's driven over one.

[Guest DFC278]

If the City is "skimpy" on buying new equipment you can be assured that they're skimpy on maintainence.That's usually the cause of these type of "accidents".

[RDUNC67 1]

Well it's easy to blame E-One here, but honestly the transfer case, engine, pump, and transmission aren't parts that are built by E-One, they are built by Hale, Cat, Allison and their competitors.

On the other hand, blaming E-One for using crappy body parts, poor fit and finish, sub-par wiring, and shotty paint, etc. is well within reason.

On another E-One note, they build their own ladders both steel and aluminum.... Does anyone know if they've ever had a manufacturer related issue that has resulted in a aeriel device failure?

←

There is one thing i'm sure of, E-One has NEVER had a catastrophic failure OR a tip over of one of their aluminum built aerials, the steel you mentioned could only be their Bronto product which is built in Finland and the Fire Apparatus part of Bronto has been a part of E-One since the late 90's (approx.) with no known failures. I'll give you the paint issues from the past etc... I guess LFDR1 would know why E-One (if it was indeed one) was to blame for aging equipment supplied by another vendor would have caused the rig to do whatever it did...

[mfc2257 464]

There is one thing i'm sure of, E-One has NEVER had a catastrophic failure OR a tip over of one of their aluminum built aerials, the steel you mentioned could only be their Bronto product which is built in Finland and the Fire Apparatus part of Bronto has been a part of E-One since the late 90's (approx.) with no known failures. I'll give you the paint issues from the past etc... I guess LFDR1 would know why E-One (if it was indeed one) was to blame for aging equipment supplied by another vendor would have caused the rig to do whatever it did...

←

I hadn't ever heard of an E-One failure but I've been curious. I've had two E-One's (the two Kenworth garbage truck chassis twins that were bough by Millwood in 1982) under my care and my biggest complaint was electrical and compartment fit. Even after multiple alternator upgrades, you couldn't keep TS-2 (E245) and E248 from discharging on the scene even with all the emergency lighting shut down. It was a big drain from the start. BUT the rigs were strong and pumped like hell.... But I guess you can give credit to that for the Detriot 6v92t's the Allison trannies and the Hale 1500gpm two stages and not to E-One.

[Remember585 815]

If your dept isn't using the finger clippers you guys really have to start putting some pressure on your dept.  The smaller chocks are great for MVA's but useless for fire apperatus...just ask anyone who's driven over one.

←

Well put. I've seen those old, smaller chocks get squashed a couple times, and despite our best try, we can't do it to the crushing chocks.

DOUBLE CHOCK 'EM!

[Guest]

I had a Spartan/General jump into road while pumping, twice. The garage could never duplicate it. Both times, wheelchocks kept it from moving much.

Since these episodes I have seen trends in large chocks, with the design based on the "tractive effort" that the drive wheels can deliver.

Would it make a difference if the driven or undriven wheels are chocked? How about both?