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New South Byron tanker increases fire fighting capacity

By Howard B. Owens

The South Byron Volunteer Fire Department has a new tanker that it hopes to have in service by January.

To meet that deadline, there will be intensive driver and operator training, according to Scott Blossom, who supplied the picture and information.

Tanker 87 was received by the department on Sunday. It was built by Crimson Fire, Inc. in Brandon, South Dakota. It's a 2009 Kenworth T370 Chassis with a five-man commercial cab.

It can pump 1,250 gallons per minute and has a 2,750-gallon water tank with a remote controlled tail pump. It will have 1,000 feet of 4-inch supply hose, one 3/4-inch attack hand line and two 1/2-inch heavy attack lines. 

The truck is capable of being a front-line engine.

It replaces a 1984 Ford tanker with a 500-gallon per-minute pump and 2,000 gallon tank.  That tanker is now up for sale.

UPDATE: I sent a follow up e-mail to Scott and asked about the price of the tanker.  Below is his response, which also clarifies some of the terminology.

Around $265,000

A few boo boos in the posting, I should have been clearer with firefighting terms. It is a tail dump, that is to say where the water dumps out of the truck into a portable tank for engines to suck water out of to fight fires. Used in areas without fire hydrants. The tankers bring water to the scene from ponds, streams, or the nearest hydrant.

The sizes of the attack lines are 1.75 inches and 2.5 inches, as we write them 1 3/4 and 2 1/2.

No biggee, my fault for not being clear.  When your used to talking a certain way, you forget to adjust your terms for those who are not in you line of work.

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