By Alan M. Petrillo

Pahrump Valley (NV) Fire & Rescue had a 1991 Mack Aerialscope that it purchased and refurbished in 2003, but earlier this year the aerial needed some chassis and ladder parts which were not available, so the department decided to find a replacement vehicle.

Pahrump Valley (NV) Fire & Rescue got this 75-foot aerial quint from Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus. (Photos courtesy of Pahrump Valley Fire & Rescue.)

“We went looking for a quint and thought we had found a truck in southern Nevada, but then COVID-19 struck, and by the time we got near the end of our fiscal year, the truck was no longer available, says Scott Lewis Pahrump Valley’s chief. Lewis notes that the department had height and length restrictions because of the existing station where a new rig would be housed. “Our local area dealer didn’t have anything for us, so we scoured the Internet and found a quint at Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus, but it was out of our price range.”

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Lewis says that Chris Crutchfield, apparatus salesman at Brindlee Mountain, took down all of Pahrump Valley’s requirements and called a day later about a quint that was coming into its inventory. “They sent us the material online, it met our requirements, we liked what we saw, and had to figure out a way to do an inspection,” Lewis says. “This was early in June when it was difficult to get in and out of Pennsylvania where the quint was located because it was a COVID-19 hotspot, so Brindlee Mountain set up a video inspection for us. They took us for a virtual ride in the apparatus, showed us every compartment, activated all the equipment—the aerial and the pump—and at the end of the virtual tour, our committee came to a unanimous decision to purchase the quint.”

The Pahrump Valley quint has a Waterous 1,500-gpm side-mount pump, a 600-gallon polypropylene water tank, a 50-gallon foam tank, and a Waterous CAFS.

Crutchfield says the rig is a 2008 4 Guys Fire Trucks 75-foot aerial quint on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and cab with seating for six firefighters (five in SCBA seats), and a tandem rear axle. Wheelbase on the quint is 228 inches, overall length is 37 feet 5 inches, overall height is 11 feet 7 inches, GVWR is 65,500 pounds, and the vehicle has 20,632 miles on it and 1,855 engine hours.

The rig has a 75-foot aerial ladder and is powered by a Cummins 500-hp diesel engine with an engine brake and an Allison 4000 CUP automatic transmission, Crutchfield points out, and has a 1,500-gpm Waterous sidemount pump, a 600-gallon polypropylene water tank, a 50-gallon foam cell, and a Waterous CAFS. He notes that the aerial has 68.9 hours on it and has a 250-pound tip load flowing water and 500-pounds dry.

The quint has a 228-inch wheelbase, and overall length of 37 feet 5 inches, an overall height of 11 feet 7 inches, and a GVWR of 65,500 pounds.

The quint has a Task Force Tips remote-controlled telescoping master stream monitor at the ladder’s tip, two 2½-inch discharges and two 2½-inch inch suction inlets on the driver’s side, three 1¾-inch crosslays, a 1½-inch front discharge, two 2½-inch discharges and two 2½-inch suction inlets on the officer’s side, a 5-inch suction inlet at the rear, and 200 feet of one-inch hose on a booster reel. The vehicle also has two electric reels each carrying 200 feet of electrical cable, a Harrison 20-kW diesel generator, all LED lighting, an Arrowstick traffic indicator, automatic tire chains, a Federal Q mechanical siren, and a breathing air system.

The quint has a Task Force Tips remote-controlled telescoping monitor at the ladder’s tip that has a 250-pound tip load flowing water and 500 pounds dry.

Pahrump Valley Fire & Rescue is a combination department with 10,000 annual responses that provides fire suppression and rescue services to 45,000 residents in 365 square miles from four stations with seven engines, two aerials (the quint and an aerial platform), three pumper water tenders, a heavy rescue truck, two Type 3 wildland engines, and two Type 6 wildland engines.

ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.