FSEP said:
Stick, rear and bigger the better... Done and done...
Hopefully that's a joke, if not, it's probably the worst advice I've ever seen!
There are a ton of questions that need to answered and considered before you make a million dollar decision that you will most likely be stuck with for years to come. Don't get sucked into picking what's "best" by what another department uses, or what somebody thinks looks the coolest.
How tall are your biggest buildings/houses? Primarily residential, commercial, or both? How tight are you streets, alleys, and parking lots? A 75' quint works well for small to large residential ventilation and master stream operations. They are good for quick setup, quick rescues, and for making a couple saw cuts. If you are going into tight side streets or subdivisions, they are more maneuverable and turn tight with their single rear axle. They also set up a bit quicker with only one set of outriggers. The ladders are lighter weight and might be bit easier to drive if you are not always going to have the same guys driving your truck. With a straight stick you don't have to worry about an extra six foot of platform hanging past the front bumper, or the rear bumper for a midmount. A rear mount truck will have a higher clearance height,so a midmount may be a better option if you have low bridges or walkways in your district. A midmount is also more versatile for ladder placement, especially when hitting the corner of a building. On the flip side, driving a rear mount platform is trickier because you have to watch the front end, and the tail swing as you turn corners. Midmounts don't have as much out front but you have a lot more tail swing. It's pretty embarrassing to be looking forward while you take out a parked car behind you as you turn a corner!
If you have a lot of commercial in your district a platform may be the way to go when it comes to running elevated master streams. Is your area hydranted, or do you rely on shuttle operations for your water supply? If you don't have the water supply, elevated master streams are probably out of the question for any length of time. Do you want a "just in case" aerial, or will be running a dedicated truck company on all fire, commerical alarm, and rescue responses? What kind of equipment will you need to carry? A small quint doesn't carry any more than a typical engine, whereas a big truck can accommodate all sorts of equipment. Also, will you be using it for any special operations? Do you do confined space, or high or low angle rope rescue? A platform works better as a rigging point and high point anchor for raise/lower and rappel systems. Also for rigging a stokes onto the platform for rescues. Do you have a lot of parapet walls in your area? You can attach a roof ladder to a platform to access behind a parapet wall.
For dedicated truck company ops you will need a full complement of ground ladders, vent equipment, hand tools, and forcible entry equipment. Maybe even salvage and overhaul equipment too. If you are supplied by hydrants and will be grabbing your own water supply, you may want to think about some supply hose. My truck company just replaced a 2001 HME 109' straight stick with a 102' KME (I know...) tower ladder. The TL is much more versaitile than the stick was. Our Truck has two master streams on the platform capable of flowing over 2000 gpm. We also carry ground ladders: a 35' extension, two 24' extension, a 24' folding ladder, two 18' roof ladders, one 16' roof ladder, a 14' extension ladder, a 10' attic ladder, and two Little Giants. We carry two each gas and electric
PPV fans, a smoke ejector, a Petrogen torch, one 20" chainsaw, two 18" Cutters Edge roof chainsaws, two k-12's one with a metal cutting blade and one with a multi-purpose diamond blade, and a 14" Ventmaster saw. We also carry swift water equipment (PFD's, Mustang suits, throw ropes, 300' rope bags, boots and helmets) and rope equipment. We can rig a stokes, set up a raise/lower system, set up a 3:1 or a Z drag system, anything more gets a Tactical Rescue rig. We also carry 600' of 5" LDH and 400' of 3" supply hose. Don't forget a full complement of hand tools and forcible entry tools, along with tarps and shovels.
I have also been assigned to a 75' quint that functioned as en engine company with a ladder on top. If was functional for an occasional use master stream or vent operation, but other than that I would not call it a "Truck Company". I would spend a lot of time studying and driving your district, figuring out where and when you may use an aerial and then think about what would work best for that situation. Contact your local/regional apparatus dealers and have them bring you demos. Look at every type of truck you can. Set them up, play with them. Most importantly, drive them. Take them down all of your streets, take them back into subdivisions, take them around your factories and commercial structures. See where they will and will not fit. See how close you can get to buildings, see where various lengths of ladder will reach. Then take all of that into consideration.
When you get the truck, practice and play. Practice, practice, practice. Drive it everywhere. Train on it for AT LEAST a month before you put it in service. Don't train until you get it right, train until you CANT get it wrong! You want confident, competent engineers. You want them to be able to set it up in their sleep. When the stuff hits the fan, you don't want to be playing fiddle-fuck around when it's game time. We can go from driving down the road, coming to a complete stop, setting the brakes, wheel chocks, outriggers and have the aerial flying in 1:55. It takes a lot of time do this stuff safely so you need to practice. Practice laddering every commercial building in your district, with their permission, of course. Then when that call comes out at 3 am and you roll up with smoke showing, you already know what buttons and levers to hit without thinking about it.
I'm sure I missed several other points of consideration, so if you need anything else just ask. Like I said, take the time to make a smart purchase based on your coverage needs. Secondly: make sure it looks pretty too! If you're going to spend over a million on one rig, make sure you can show it off too!
.
