Volunteers Get Born-Again Old Aerial

Volunteers Get Born-Again Old Aerial

The Falconer Volunteer Fire Department in southwest New York is the proud owner of a 1980 aerial ladder truck that already has a 39-year history of service.

How can that be? Through much hard work and after major renovation, a completely new life has been given to an old truck. It was a special piece of equipment from the start. A design symposium of over 300 chiefs offered suggestions on what they would like to see in the fire appparatus of the future, and this truck was the result.

The story really began in 1942 when the American-LaFrance-Foamite Corp. in Elmira, N.Y., laid the frame and assigned the serial number 9000 to it. Even the plans were under way to design a new type of aerial apparatus. Progress stopped, however, because the factory was committed to the production of war materiel at the time.

Design suggestions

The delay turned out to be fortunate. Time was provided for the corporation to sponsor, in September 1943 at the IAFC Conference in Chicago, the symposium that changed what this truck would have become. This first model would bring in a new post-war era of design.

Some of the suggestions of the chiefs participating in the symposium included a five-man cab, more compartment space, better visibility for the driver, and better weight distribution.

In October 1945, American LaFrance’s new 700 series apparatus were introduced to the fire service. Our number 9000, in its new and finished form, became the demonstrator for the series. It appeared in a two-page advertisement in that month’s Fire Engineering. A follow-up article and more pictures were featured in the December issue.

In 1950, the truck was used as a test vehicle to determine the effects of unusual stress on the ladder. The ladder was extended to the full 100 feet and a ladder pipe was mounted with the stream being discharged at right angle to the ladder. The pressure was gradually raised until at 150 psi the ladder collapsed. The test results were dramatically illustrated through stop-action photos in the February 1951 issue of Fire Engineering. A newly designed ladder and turntable were then mounted on the truck.

New owner

Early in 1956, the truck was sitting in a field behind the American LaFrance Service Center in Southport, N.Y., a suburb of Elmira. The City of Jamestown, N. Y., was in search of a new aerial truck and purchased the 9000 in “as is” condition. Back in Jamestown it was extensively refurbished with a new front bumper, lights, and a complete paint job among other things. Recabled to 85 feet, the truck went into service as Ladder 1 in Jamestown’s 100-man paid department during June 1956.

The truck continued as Ladder 1 until 1967, when a new aerial was purchased and serial number 9000 became Ladder 2. In 1976, Jamestown purchased another new aerial truck, and the city decided to sell what was then merely a reserve aerial truck. At the same time, the neighboring Village of Falconer was looking into the purchase of an aerial to replace a 1951 electrically operated 65-foot aerial that was in an unsafe condition. After a couple of meetings, the village purchased the truck at a very reasonable figure.

Ladder truck, conceived in 1942, made its bow to the fire service in 1945 after war delay. Its open cab, was changed to a closed cabother modifications were made to give it a new appearance, and an extended life.

Before putting the truck in service, the volunteers completely overhauled it, sanding it to bare metal and repainting, completely rewiring the old lights plus installing additional lights, removing the fenders and running board and attaching new braces and supports, reupholstering the seats, and installing a 4000-watt generator. Nothing was done to the original American LaFrance 12-cylinder engine at that time. The truck was put into service as Ladder 401 in April 1977.

By early 1979, numerous problems were being encountered with the old engine, and some cracks were found in the beam of the ladder itself. After investigating the cost of replacing the truck with a new one, it was decided to completely repower and reladder our old but sturdy truck. In order to pay for the work required, the village negotiated a new fire protection contract with the East Ellicott Fire Protection District that would cover five years and assure enough money.

The truck was driven to the American LaFrance Service Center in Elmira and the overhaul began in August 1979. During the downtime, the City of Jamestown agreed to cover the Falconer Fire District should aerial apparatus be needed. Fortunately it wasn’t.

The new old truck

Significant changes took place within our old truck. The service center installed a Detroit 6-71 diesel engine, Allison MT 654 automatic transmission, a new 100-foot steel ladder, radiator and heat exchanger, alternator changing system from 6 to 12 volts, all new instrument gages, new engine hood, an 11,000-pound front axle, new air brakes, and power steering. They also overhauled the hydraulic system, reworked the fuel tank from gas to diesel, changed the PTO system, changed the axle ratio, and installed a new exhaust system. After all that was completed, the truck was driven to the William Shoemaker Associates in Hamburg, N.Y. (the area American LaFrance dealer) where a white fiberglass cab and air horns were installed.

The truck, still a series 700, serial number 9000, was certified by the factory as a 1980 100-foot aerial. Total cost to the Village of Falconer, including the purchase from Jamestown, was less than $80,000.

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