| The Pierce vehicles are ideal for the diverse needs of Prince George's County |
Pierce Manufacturing, an Oshkosh Corporation company delivered five Pierce pumpers and two 105-foot aerial ladders all built on the Arrow XT™ custom chassis to the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department in Largo, Maryland.
“Pierce is proud to be selected by the largest and one of the busiest with more than 120,000 calls per year combination fire departments in the nation,” said Jim Johnson, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president, Fire & Emergency. “These vehicles are engineered to meet the diverse needs of Prince George’s County. In particular, the Arrow XT custom chassis is an excellent choice for this vital urban corridor.”
“We’ve been using the paramedic engine concept for the last five years, and we worked with Pierce to design these new vehicles to help us more quickly respond to medical emergencies,” said Battalion Chief Eric Reith of Prince George’s County Fire/EMS. “This is our first Pierce purchase, and we expect these new vehicles to improve the reliability of our fleet and to enhance the services we provide to our community.”
The five pumpers will be assigned to paramedic engine companies. These vehicles are outfitted with special custom cabinets to allow firefighters to reach critically important equipment from inside the climate-controlled cab, without having to step up or down. The vehicles also feature a 450 hp DD13 engine, 750-gallon water tank, 1500 gpm single stage pump, as well as seating for six firefighters and extremely low hose bed heights.
The heavy-duty aerial ladders each have special compartments on top of the vehicles to allow firefighters easy access to saws and other rescue equipment. The department also added an additional 60 feet of ground ladder storage on the body. One of the aerials features a pump, while the other does not. “We are going to evaluate each of these aerials to determine, moving forward, whether we want to include pumps on these apparatus in the future,” said Reith.
Prince George’s County Fire/EMS apportions its resources through seven community response areas, and serves a 499 square mile district wrapping around the Northeast side of the District of Columbia. The combination department, including nearly 1,100 volunteers and 720 uniformed career personnel, operates 45 fire stations. In addition to firefighting response, this dynamic department delivers technical rescue, full service EMS, advanced life-support and community education programs.
Pierce dealer Atlantic Emergency Solutions of Manassas, Virginia, provides local service and support.