By Mike Sanders mnsand@comcast.net
For this column, we go back in time a bit to profile an unusual fire truck that ran from the Mount Vernon Volunteer Fire Department in Fairfax County, Virginia. Mount Vernon VFD was Station 9 in Fairfax County. The volunteers turned over their operations to the county in the 1970’s. Today, Station 409 in Mount Vernon continues to provide fire and rescues services to the citizens in Fairfax County.
In 1960, the American LaFrance Fire Engine Company (ALF) delivered a 900 series engine to the San Francisco, California FD. ALF called this engine the “Turbo Chief” and it was a 1000 gallon per minute open cab pumper assigned to Engine 14. A year later, a second Turbo Chief was delivered to Seattle, Washington. This, however, was a 100’ tiller truck. These two trucks were powered by Boeing 325 horsepower gas turbines built by a division of the Boeing Airplane Company. Although they were similar in appearance to other ALF 900 series fire trucks, they had one very notable difference. There was a large stainless steel exhaust stack that came out of the top of the engine compartment.
In 1962, the Mount Vernon VFD also received a turbine powered ALF 900 series 1000 gpm engine. Mount Vernon’s Turbo Chief was very similar to the San Francisco ALF engine except for one major difference. Mount Vernon’s had the pump panel on the officer’s side of the truck.
All three of the jet propelled ALF’s built developed major problems and became costly to operate. Braking problems, slow acceleration, and a very loud engine were some of the major issues. Mount Vernon’s shot fire directly at the roof of the fire station and the brakes were no match for the turbine engine so it was very hard to stop. Within a few years, each of the ALF’s were converted to conventional gasoline engines and continued to serve their respective departments.
Although the first three Turbo Chiefs were unsuccessful, ALF built one final Turbo Chief in 1972 for the IAFC Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. A noticeable difference was that this ALF had dual exhaust stacks. Again, it did not prove to be popular.
Virginia’s Mount Vernon VFD purchased a variety of ALF fire trucks. None were as unusual as the Turbo Chief.
Photos: Mike Sanders collection
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Clarification/correction to the above article: the first Turbo Chief was delivered in 1960 to the San Francisco Fire Department.
Sir back in the 70s our vol dept bought one of the 1953 american lafrance fire engines from mt vernon fire dept.It was very much like the one in the picture.I cut my teeth on it driving fire engines and was the first dept in our county to have a rotoray mounted on the winsheid center post.We used this truck for serveral years and sold it Bath county dam project.That is the last place it was that i know of..Thanks for the memories.
Mike,
Did the unit have a plaque on it, over the back step? If so, can you tell me what it was?
Mike,
You mentioned your FD received an ALF from Mt. Vernon. What FD were you running with that received the ALF? I would love to include that information with my Fairfax County apparatus history. Thanks, Mike.
Mike S. – Drop me an e-mail. I have a photo of Mt. Vernon’s “Old” station with the apparatus out front. I want to send it to ya and my last e-mail got kicked back.
Rob
Rob,
Unable to send the email. Please email me at mnsand@visuallink.com. Thank you Rob. Mike S.
Are you sure these units were converted to GASOLINE and not Detroit Diesel? I was under the impression that gasoline powered fire trucks lost their lustre around the end of the 1940′s or thereabouts.