By Mike Sanders mnsand@comcast.net
Some fire departments that operate in cold climate conditions have had their engines built with the pump panel enclosed within the four door cab. The pump operator will hook up the hoses to the pump and then move into the cab for pump operations. The Alta Vista Volunteer Fire Department’s Engine 1 appears to have been designed for cold weather.
Altavista is in Campbell County and is located between Lynchburg and Danville. Their Engine 1 is a 1998 Pierce Lance equipped with a 1500 gallon per minute pump and a 1000 gallon water tank. The pump panel controls are located to the rear of the Lance cab.
Engine 1 is “unusual” – are there any similar engines in Virginia?
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Several items regarding the enclosed pump panel within the cab. You do indeed see a variety of these kind of engines in cold weather areas – Minnesota, etc. Jeff Hawkins advised that the industry name for these type of engines are “enclosed top mount pumper”.
In addition, the Shady Grove VFD in Bedford County runs an International/Fort Garry engine with the enclosed top mount pumper. I am told this engine was originally a demo from Fort Garry.