??? about SDFR and ladder vs. tower (platform)

[Rescue51 44]

I am curious why San Diego Fire-Rescue does not have in the ladder fleet some towers/platforms?  I know they just added a couple new Pierce TDA's, by why no towers in the fleet?  Is it a cost issue or that?  If you look at Heartland Fire-Rescue they run two towers, T11 and T6.  Thanks in advance...~Rescue51

[EMT_FS46 23]

I honestly don’t know why but I guess it’s a California thing most department out here run tiller trucks and some straight sticks.it’s just west coast firefighting I guess.

[Ayatollah 2]

I can't speak for SDFR but here's my opinion having driven and been assigned to, both tillered and elevated platforms. Due to personnel costs, salary, benefits, training, etc., agencies are stretched thin, firefighters are tasked with a multitude of responsibilities. So what does that translate into? Truck companies going on more EMS calls, stations with "stand-alone" trucks, and it being much more common to see ALS truck companies. It's now not unheard of for some departments to have trucks running 10 to 12, or even more calls a shift. I bring that all up because in my opinion, and that of others in the fire service, if you're going to run ten plus calls a shift on a truck, it's way easier to do so in a tillered apparatus than in an elevated platform. Don't get me wrong, the elevated platforms are great to utilize at fires and in many physical rescue situations...once you get to where the incident is and commit to where you'll set-up and operate from. But I found those rigs to be slow, cumbersome, and a real pain to drive in traffic and on narrow streets. 

 

[Rescue51 44]

Great information and makes much $ense.  I also was thinking the platform might be more difficult to deploy (elevate) as it is wider than just shooting a straight stick/ladder up between trees.  You make great points about the trucks being run on BLS/ALS/frequent flyer 5150/Lyft-Uber kinda calls.  If you've followed me here for a while, you will see I've become a parrot almost to point an annoyance of recommending more departments stop using the trucks for the medical aid calls, and consider patrols, squads, rescues. The wear-and-tear on expensive trucks is just not worth it, unless the rig is already out of house and it makes sense to dispatch it to a nearby MedAid.  I was very pleased to see Heartland Fire-Rescue finally decided their Piece tower T6 (El Cajon) was being run into the ground on MedAid responses, and they put into service a nice 2-man pick-up which is Squad-6.  Technically if S6 is out on a run and a structure response or TC (since T6 has rescue capacity) comes out, T6 can still respond and S6 can join-in with manpower when they clear their previous assignment.  Nice to see more departments going to the TDA's.  San Miguel Fire-Rescue recently placed into service their beautiful T15 (Pierce quint, if I am correct).  It has been running lots of calls out of Fs15's.  I hope to see that department too consider a squad simply to reduce the cycles/miles/beat-up on the new T15.   

[FF Buff One 36]

I may add Chula Vista & National City Fire has added Squads as well.

SDFR added one as well (SQ56)

But I agree if the call is a small one BLS a squad can handle it and not get an engine there to tie up other calls.

If its a heart attack or something serious Engine & a squad should work with manpower they need.

I saw a few You Tube Videos Oxnard FD has 2 Squads in their city.

I guess they have FF/PMs now since the last time I visited a buddy of mine up there years ago they had none.

Now they do (with Gold Coast EMS & AMR doing transport up in VC)

[firepost 15]

The San Diego Fire Department did have a fleet of rear mounted Tower Ladders during  the late 1980s through the early 1990's. When I was last there which was in January 1999 a Tower Ladder was assigned to Truck 10 and Truck 28 as full time manned Truck companies. There were 2 additional Tower Ladders that were assigned to Stations 41 and 43 as "Jump'" companies.  For those who aren't familiar with the term "Jump company" it means that there is only one full time crew assigned to a fire station however there is more then one fire apparatus assigned to that station  and depending on the dispatch assignment the crew will man the fire unit or apparatus that in needed at the the time. So if a Ladder company was requested at the Stations 41 or 43 their Engine crews would jump onto the Ladder company and the Engine would go out of service until the Ladder returned. 

In early 1999 Truck 14 was using a Pierce Snorkel as it's regularly assigned Truck apparatus also. Ladder 5 was also a Jump company however they were using a 1980 Seagrave  rear mounted 100 foot Aerial Ladder.

The 4 Tower Ladders were Spartan /LTI's . One was a 1986 model and 3 were 1989 models.

Even though in early 1999 Trucks 10,28 41 and 43 were assigned Tower Ladders to my understanding  Truck 1 had one that was Originally assigned to it however in 1999 Truck 1 was using a Tillered Aerial Ladder.

It's no secret that San Diego did have problems making an adequate financial commitment to their fire department and  only in recent years they have been catching up and adding new  stations and putting new companies in service so I would imagine that  perhaps the reason that they have purchased no new Tower Ladders is because  straight Aerial Ladders are not as expensive and it was probably both easier and cheaper to purchase a standardized fleet of straight Aerial Ladder Trucks.

As far as using them  on EMS runs given, the weight of a Tower Ladder company there are ways to get around that issue. Here are 2 examples, Phoenix Arizona  has  2nd piece known as a Ladder Tender which is assigned to each of their 14 current Truck companies and if the Truck is assigned to an EMS run the crew uses the Ladder Tender (which is really a medium duty rescue squad) instead if the Aerial or Tower Ladder apparatus.  A 2nd example is that of San Antonio Texas. In San Antonio Texas most their fire stations which has a Ladder company assign also has a small SUV assigned to the Station which is designated as a Squad unit and if an EMS run comes in to that station one man from the Engine and one man from the Truck responds w with the Squad SUV so that they don't have to run with the Heavier Ladder or Engine company most of the time.

[RicardoBerg 8]

I remember when I saw 2 Snorkels assigned to San Diego Fire Rescue including Truck 5 back in the 80's. I agree that TDA's are the best trucks to have due to them being very maneuverable.