Monticello Fire & Rescue

Apparatus Changes in progress

Retirement and conversion of E-2 and T-5

Engine 2 entered service in 1985 and it is now time for a replacement in order for us to continue having our excellent

I. S. O. rating we now enjoy. As now it is required to have firefighters riding on trucks to be in a enclosed cab resale value of the unit is not good. As the chassis is in good condition it was decided to convert the truck into a tanker after

we receive and put into service the new engine. Tanker 5 entered service in 1977 and has some major rust problems

in the tank and cab area. More on this when we reach that point in the conversion process.

Photo's of Engine 2 and Tanker 5

New Engine Construction

First step was planning included were visits to various area departments that had purchased trucks similar to what we wanted, demo units from selected vendors not only the fire equipment but also chassis dealers. This process took

about 18 months to complete. We narrowed down the list of vendors of the fire equipment to two vendors in

Wisconsin that we felt would met our needs then they supplied us with preliminary drawings and specifications these were combined into one master set of specifications that were sent back to vendors for bidding. At the bid opening

the contract was awarded to Pierce Manufacturing of Appleton WI.

Chassis has arrived at Pierce in early Aug. first steps are to add additional wiring and controls in the truck cab, also replacement of the truck seats with so that the officers seat will be equipped with SCBA, also the front bumper has

been removed as this area will be extended to accommodate a discharge fitting for a trash fire line. About 8 months

has elapsed as the contact was let on Jan 10 2013.

We are job # 26722

Chassis now painted the correct color and the front bumper extension area for the trash line is added. All trim for the

cab still not installed this will happen later.

 A shot of the bare chassis after repaint process was completed notice just ahead of the rear tires newly added support structure for the fire body. Sitting on the rear frame rails a step or running board ready for mounting. Taped to the rear of the truck cab a copy of the master blueprint that is referred to during construction.

  This module is the crew cab box it is mounted individually from the truck cab and the fire body this allows for movement by "frame flex" which may make a crack in the body.

 This is a interior shot of the crew cab facing forward the opening corresponds with the truck cab rear window which

is removed allowing conservation between both areas while in route to a call. Opening in the lower right hand side of

the photo is for 2 "cross-lay" hose lines they are installed with removable poly trays so the reloading of the hose can

be done easier.

 This will be attached to the crew cab rear it will house all the pump controls. Windows on all sides and the rear offer

the pump operator a good view of the fire scene. The pass-through window offers a view to the front of the truck.

This gives to the operator a good over-all view of the fire scene.

A inspection trip was done by department members on 9/16/13 this is about midpoint in the construction process.

The inspection process went over a list of about 300 different items. Of the 300 items about 44 were tagged for

further clarification or modification, the inspection process took about 9 hours to complete.

A shot of drivers side.

The other side we will have a fold down ladder this will add much needed compartment space.

Pump at the passenger side with the inspection panel removed.

Pump operators panel photo taken from truck cab through the pass-through window area.

Rear view a better shot of the ladder rack and now required the rear reflective striping.

Part of the ladder lift control unit.

The trucks are moved in a sort of "assembly line" fashion different task are done at each station.  Normally the trucks are not started up for the move this is placed behind the rear wheel and it pushes the truck forward

Radio and siren heads installed on cab console which has storage for our reference books also.

Here we see some of the slide out tool boards on the passenger side of the truck.

A closer look at 2 more slide out tool boards.

Truck is now in the final assembly "Check Out" area still need painting and striping installed. Most of the work is done

at this stage what is left is lettering and touch-up items, and clean-up for final inspection.

Also in "Check Out" next to our truck on the left is a new truck for Evansville Fire Department. This is a rare

occasion as we work closely with Evansville Fire and having both units next to each other at a place where they build units for all over the world is a rare event! This is a once in a lifetime happening. 

Nearly completed truck being backed in to "The Blue Floor Area" for the pre-delivery inspection on Oct 14. At this

point the truck is mostly complete but short a few items, and some minor touch-up items were noted and will be corrected before acceptance.

Department committee members viewing some of  units being checked out that day. Approximately 15 different

trucks were on the "Blue Floor" that day. The units ranged from basic pumper trucks such as ours to a combo Fire/Police mobile command center for Fremont CA. That unit had about 5 miles of communications wiring with

all the radio, computer, weather station video surveillance cameras, about 6-8 different flat screen TV monitors of various sizes and a complete satellite uplink system. Trucks were slated for delivery to California, New Jersey,

Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas just to name a few. This day the majority of the units were either ladder trucks

or elevated platform trucks well over 1/2 of them of those types.

Later in the day the " Blue Floor" area with some of the units now out for road testing. This is done to with

department members present to verify that the truck will perform as the bidding process was written for. In addition latter they will be given a "UL Lab's" certification test of the fire fighting portion of the trucks before final delivery. Center of the picture on the cart is one of the Tablet Workstations used by the vendor/dealer for each unit being processed that day, any thing that needs attention is then photographed with the tablet then additional noted written about the photo and transmitted via the in house network to the proper department to process the needed changes.

To the rear of the truck is Jason Krueger our contact for Reliant Fire.

Pierce has a in-house art department and they did a great job of making a new logo of our village signature monument

at the lake entrance. 

New pumper now in Monticello driven back by department members on 10/26/13. So now our work is just starting

for the department members.

Members will be installing equipment on the new truck, over 40 different tool holders need to be installed also

equipment from Old Engine 2 and Engine 1 need to be relocated and balanced to reflect the addition of the new

truck and retirement of the old truck.

Here we are in the process of mounting some of the equipment members worked on the placement all day Saturday 10/26/13 and got about 40% of the task completed. Guy's took a break at noon when this photo was taken.  The placement of equipment require some "trial & error" method of placement of equipment. Shelf's need to be adjusted

for height some times things will not fit so another location is then sought. Goal is to keep placement of equipment as close as possible to other engine so members are more familiar with items locations. Approximately another 2 or 3

day's will be required to complete this task.

Engine 1 Now in Service

Members worked on final steps of loading hose, equipment on Engine 1 and removing items from "Old Engine 2" so

it may be taking to Marshfield WI. for conversion into a tanker to replace "old Tanker-5" . This was done on Saturday Nov. 2 the following morning Engine -1 made it's "First Run" for a active fire alarm in the village. Below a photo of Engine 1 on a MABAS call to Monroe, we were assigned to supply water to Freeport IL. aerial Ladder truck at this call.

Click on me for conversion of old E-2 into T-5