Posted March 14, 2014 (edited) This afternoon while I was turning onto Bradley Avenue, I noticed a brand new Pierce truck had come off of Marshal Avenue (that is the street the Heartland Training Facility [HTF] is). It had no markings for any agencies but said Pierce on the ladder with their slogan. It appeared to be an Arrow with the tank/pump. It had dual rear axle. Appeared a 100+ foot ladder. Nice new LED lighting on rear. The truck got onto the SR67 and headed south. HTF is also near El Cajon (Heartland) station 9's, and also "shops" which is the maintenance facility. I am wondering if one of the local agencies took delivery of the new truck and I've just not got that on the radar yet, or if it was just some demo on-road? Any insights? Edited March 14, 2014 by Rescue51 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 14, 2014 most ,if not all rigs are lettered for their respective depts. before they leave the pierce factory, they have a huge art dept there that creates a template, then the gold leaf is applied under specific conditions. my guess is if it had no markings and the ladder main had a sign on it that said pierce and probally a slogan ' like no other' that it's a demo unit being shown off to some dept looking to purchase a ladder truck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 14, 2014 Was it a rearmount aerial or a TDA? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 14, 2014 Thanks "joeyk48" and to "RicardoBerg" it was a rear-mount aerial. Single occupant in cab, male w/mustache who actually very much impressed me with his driving (it was obvious to me he was experienced), as to turns and merging onto a difficult area of the SR67 to transition to the WB I-8. I know the soon to retire San Miguel Chief (who came over from Cal Fire) wants to replace their Truck 15 (Pierce) but said it probably was not gonna happen budget-wise for 2 more years, and they had just done a bunch of preventive maintenance stuff to the rig. Santee's chief has said replacing their aging TDA is not gonna happen for a couple years unless things change (true economic improvement in our city/county's budgets). I believe Lakeside has been wanting to do something to replace the KME squirt, I think that is a 1999 or so. It seems to me Lakeside FD and Heartland's new group (El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove) have been the most progressive agencies locally in last 3-5 years. Back to Lakeside's squirt/teleboom, originally it was E3-s, then went to 26's and now believe it is in reserve at 2's as 202-s. I am not sure if they roll in that on structure responses or if it is just reserve to their relatively new Smeal urban interface pumper (which 3's is about to take delivery of same model soon, if it is not already on front-line).Lemon Grove use to have a squirt too, as a strategic plan it would not surprise me if they got another quint down the road, but again where's the money to fund it. They could use a quint to keep the tank/pump on-line but add some more technical rescue gear to it since they get many responses to the 94 freeway there. Though in station 10's coverage, they have pretty good truck coverage from San Diego City Fire T10, to La Mesa T11, and then San Miguel's T15. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
