American LaFrance Trucks
Historically, American LaFrance Trucks has not been a name immediately identified with industrial fire fighting. That is slowly changing, said American LaFrance’s manager for government and industrial sales. To put things into perspective, they are taking baby steps. They may not be attacking industrial fire protection as much as there competitors, but they are taking time to think through what they are doing to be sure it meets industry needs.
American LaFrance is now offering the National Foam pump module with the American LaFrance chassis, aerial and body to give another dimension to its product line. The resulting package will offer a chassis similar to American LaFrance, a National Foam pump, an American LaFrance aerial device and a body of choice, either American LaFrance or National Foam, depending on what the customer wants. American LaFrance is also excited about the industrial fire applications of its 102 foot rear mount aerial tower complete with 6 inch waterway and a 3,000 gpm capacity.
Because of the requirements of having 1,000 gallons of foam is the rule of thumb for industry, they use an older torque box design. If the foam capacity isn’t an issue they have a 12 foot jack spread that they are very proud of. That truck comes with a 110 foot aerial, 750 pound tip load and 1,500 gpm pump. A 12 foot spread could be a big advantage in a congested industrial setting. If they can use a National Foam 3,000 gpm pump, the maximum they could do is 1,500 gpm at the tip. Engineering fire trucks to meet the needs of industrial customers is unique and interesting.
A good example of this is a tanker pumper recently delivered to Fairbanks, AK. It’s basically everything you need in an industrial truck, including a compressed air foam system that operates at -50 degrees F or colder. It has an insulated pump panel, special exhaust systems, rugged heavy duty undercarriage and heavy duty front and rear suspension.
The body is American LaFrance’s typical extruded aluminum product. It has a 2,500 gallon tank that could be stretched to 3,000 gpm with foam. To date, American LaFrance is in the process of building its third truck for that same Alaskan department. Building big trucks like those used for industrial fire fighting is nothing new to American LaFrance. The biggest trucks they’ve ever built were for National Foam. They had a 312 inch wheelbase and Schwing booms. Refinery Terminal Fire Company in Corpus Christi, TX, has one of them. So they have built industrial trucks before and can meet any client’s needs.
Backing that claim is the combined engineering prowess of Daimler Chrysler and Freightliner Trucks, one of the largest heavy duty truck maker in the U.S., they draw on 173 years of experience to know what works and what doesn’t.
