Firetruck offroad lights

[thatguy2]

Back out today. 100 degrees. 30 acres of grass and 10 more bales. Top of my bald head is sunburned. Truck I was in the AC only works if you are moving. It was recharged 2 weeks ago as we did them all before hot weather. Any ideas?

Another truck had no working ac and it was also freshly recharged.

 

[Admin]

 

[Rayger143]

Back out today. 100 degrees. 30 acres of grass and 10 more bales. Top of my bald head is sunburned. Truck I was in the AC only works if you are moving. It was recharged 2 weeks ago as we did them all before hot weather. Any ideas?

Another truck had no working ac and it was also freshly recharged.

sounds like condenser cooling issue.

 

[thatguy2]

I rinsed out the condenser after we had another call Monday evening. Mechanic looked at it afterwards. It was still fully charged and he couldn't replicated the issue on the 02 F-350. I am guessing me cleaning the condenser really helped. Looking at the fins alot are bent and it looks like someone tried to run a stick through it at one time. For a truck that spends a ton of time off road I guess that is to be expected.
I think something is blocking the fan in the 98 Chevy. We need to take the lower dash off to get it.
2000 Ford with have a new dryer. It will blow cold while you are sitting, then blows hot while you are moving.
1 tender isn't equipped with AC. The other doesn't have functional AC. Thank god for wing windows when moving. Sucks when parked.

We need to replace trucks, but I don't know how to get it done with today's prices. There are also some new OSHA proposals that could bankrupt alot of small departments. The days of selling bbq chicken, and raffles to fund your department are over.

 

[thatguy2]

Both pumpers are down. One can't go anywhere. The other just gets hot while pumping and can't pull a draft as the priming pump is down. Board meeting Wednesday will be fun.

 

[thatguy2]

Board meeting went better than I expected. They did not even bat an eye at the repairs to the engines. One needs a new fan or fan clutch, has a bad injector, and the priming pump doesn't work. The other gets hot unless the engine cooling line from the pump is open, has something wrong with the primer (solenoid will be here Monday for me to try) and it has something going on in the back end so that the brake lights don't work except when you hit a bump sometimes. I have traced grounds, etc and can't find the issue.

I brought up trying to upgrade brush trucks and running brush/first responder trucks to save on maintenance and insurance. They shut me down immediately. Something like this would be awesome as a brush truck. And extended cab version would work as a medical response truck. https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/6395e51e-b634-4fe2-a8f7-e8446e49dd94/

 

[thatguy2]

Not looking good for our truck grant. It was only a 2% chance anyway, unless apparently you are from Alabama. Since 2015 if you add KS (8), OK (11), MO (28), NE (8), IA (28) and CO (13) they still don't come anywhere close to Alabama's 172 vehicle awards. I have actually called my senator on this and they said I was not the first person to call about it. They are looking into it.

 

[Rayger143]

Not looking good for our truck grant. It was only a 2% chance anyway, unless apparently you are from Alabama. Since 2015 if you add KS (8), OK (11), MO (28), NE (8), IA (28) and CO (13) they still don't come anywhere close to Alabama's 172 vehicle awards. I have actually called my senator on this and they said I was not the first person to call about it. They are looking into it.

Keep swingin!

 

[thatguy2]

Hartford-Neosho Rapids Fire Department secures grants

The Hartford-Neosho Rapids Fire Department has announced two notable grants for its operations. Fire Chief Gre...

kvoe.com

 

[thatguy2]

Working on getting 501c3 organized to get us access to more grants. May also get us some donations if they are tax deductible.

We washed streets today in preparation for Harvest Days. I let my son spray some water.

 

[thatguy2]

We started a Facebook page to keep our community informed.

Lyon County Fire District #5-Hartford/Neosho Rapids | Hartford KS

Lyon County Fire District #5-Hartford/Neosho Rapids, Hartford, Kansas. 26 likes · 69 talking about this. Volunteer Fire Department

www.facebook.com

 

[thatguy2]

Found a solution I think. I'll get them installed Sunday then we will know. I spent 3 hours cleaning up electrical on our crappiest brush truck. Some lights had quit working. The stuff I found is almost incredible. Stuff being held in place with fire extinguisher breakaway tags. 2 wires that had been stripped, laid on top of each other then heatshrinked. Nothing in loom. As I am fixing it a neighboring department gets a grass fire. They page them twice with no response. I probably should've jumped it but a department in another county is closer and they dispatched them. We are getting alot of small fires. We are in drought conditions with no measurable precip in the forecast. We got the board to agree to have the suspension, and steering looked at before we are super busy.

 

[thatguy2]

Solved the mystery of the taillights on the pumper today. Also swapped out some cheap offroad lights for some a little higher quality on one truck. 2 more to go.

 

[thatguy2]

Arsonist nearly got my neighbor and our house last night. I was asleep heard the call and looked out the front door. 3 fires had been lit. One was directly endangering my neighbors house and livestock. Another in a pasture to the north, and a third on the wildlife refuge 1.5 miles west. I fought fire from midnight to 4 am then showered and went to work. The largest fire went 2 miles north and was a mile wide.

 

[trigger]

Arsonist nearly got my neighbor and our house last night. I was asleep heard the call and looked out the front door. 3 fires had been lit. One was directly endangering my neighbors house and livestock. Another in a pasture to the north, and a third on the wildlife refuge 1.5 miles west. I fought fire from midnight to 4 am then showered and went to work. The largest fire went 2 miles north and was a mile wide.
View attachment 448264

Did anyone get him is the question?

 

[thatguy2]

Did anyone get him is the question?

The individual came back today and lit another fire. Wind gusts to 60 mph today. My understanding is they have a suspect and they questioned him.
Here is a video my passenger took. We were out of water and looking for the exit. I am behind the wheel. Gives you an idea of what we were up against.

16 reactions | LCFD5 assisted with 2 grass fires in Coffey County as well as 1 in Osage County yesterday. Firefighters were toned out just before midnight and did not... | By Lyon County Fire District #5-Hartford/Neosho Rapids | Facebook

LCFD5 assisted with 2 grass fires in Coffey County as well as 1 in Osage County yesterday. Firefighters were toned out just before midnight and did not...

www.facebook.com

 

[thatguy2]

The individual came back today and lit another fire. Wind gusts to 60 mph today. My understanding is they have a suspect, and they questioned him.
Here is a video my passenger took. We were out of water and looking for the exit. I am behind the wheel. Gives you an idea of what we were up against.

16 reactions | LCFD5 assisted with 2 grass fires in Coffey County as well as 1 in Osage County yesterday. Firefighters were toned out just before midnight and did not... | By Lyon County Fire District #5-Hartford/Neosho Rapids | Facebook

LCFD5 assisted with 2 grass fires in Coffey County as well as 1 in Osage County yesterday. Firefighters were toned out just before midnight and did not...

www.facebook.com

They know the individual. He ignited 10 fires that they know of over a 3 day span.

 

[thatguy2]

I got the lights on one truck after the nighttime fiasco. One more to do and I have the lights just need the time.
The first of our gear from the grant came in. 26 week lead time and it arrived in ~4 weeks. I called and asked where I went wrong on the tender grant. They said I scored high in my narratives, the 35 yr old truck just wasn't quite old enough. Since that time the siren controller on it has shorted out, the speedometer doesn't work, and the tachometer works intermittently.

 

[thatguy2]

Last brush truck has been outfitted with offroad lights. That's the good news. The bad news is our "good tender" is now leaking. We have been busy to start December. Since Nove 30th we have had 3 structure fires, 1 brush fire, 1 vehicle accident and 5 medicals. One of the house fires we hauled water for 4 hours.

 

[thatguy2]

More grant funding at work. Frontier Farm Credit awarded us a $15000 grant. It allowed us to finish the build out of remote monitors for our wildland fleet. We just need to get this one plumbed in, I got all the electric work for it completely. We hope to finish this week.
That is $7500 on the front of that truck. We will have another $1500 in hose, electric valves, fittings, etc.