Alhambra FD purchases two KME engines

[mr.ranger 18]

Alhambra fire will be purchasing two KME engines.They will piggy-back on the Orange County Fire Authority's bid award. Seems they are moving away from pierce. Their newest engine I believe was a smeal similar to what cal fire has in riverside.

[joeyk48 25]

if you look at Alhambra engines 71 and 73, which are probally the 2 they are replacing, they are quite  worn.  they are most likely going kme because the delivery time for kme is not as long as a pierce.  pierce is crazy busy with new rigs, my cousin's company ordered a rescue pumper, it was almost 2 months from the paperwork signing before it even hit the production line , then another 11 months to be completed

[mr.ranger 18]

Wow that is a long time

[Rescue51 44]

I'm thinking in addition to the build times, the price points on most the KME products are going to beat Piece.  Plus Alhambra got in on the bigger block purchase by Orange County, so there was additional $avings. 

[RicardoBerg 8]

LAFD aren't happy with their KME's at all and I am surprised that Alhambra decided to piggyback with Orange County instead of LA County Fire Department which seems to have the most number of KME's in their fleet in the United States.

[E0001 62]

Alhambra fire will be purchasing two KME engines.They will piggy-back on the Orange County Fire Authority's bid award. Seems they are moving away from pierce. Their newest engine I believe was a smeal similar to what cal fire has in riverside.

The only similarities with the engine Alhambra bought and the Riverside County engines is that they are on Spartan chassis and they are red. Otherwise a totally different build up.

[pump305 32]

Once the bugs where worked out that was actually LAFD problem. Everyone i spoke with likes the KME's for the most part.

[joeyk48 25]

the kme's for the most part are really improved from what they used to be. pierce has become a real big player across the country,  especially on the east coast where a lot of volunteer  fire companies are downsizing due to manpower issues and there being no need for a volley outfit to have 4 engines anymore, most going with a pumper tanker concept or a quint concept. with the loss of alf and seagrave pricing themselves out of the market, pierce and kme have become frontrunners in the industry

[hp1530 2]

Once the bugs where worked out that was actually LAFD problem. Everyone i spoke with likes the KME's for the most part.

 

So what were the issues with the engines? Did they have something to do with the specs?

[pump305 32]

On the first batch of engines. LAFD spec heavier front leaf springs than KME recommended. Rode very rough. Since then all has changed.