06/26/07 106 W, 1 I - + 13 - 11 Big Red
This is a 1958 Walter crash truck that the Minneapolis Fire Department placed in service in 1976 as Foam-Hose 1. The ex-Army rig was rebuilt with a 1500 GPM pump pulled from another old rig, and outfitted with a pair of Stang monitors in the rear. It served for a few years, and presently resides at an aviation museum north of the Twin Cities. One of Raleigh-Durham Airport's earliest vehicles was a 1959 Walter crash truck. It served for a couple decades, and was moved to the Durham Museum of Life & Science. Its present disposition is unknown. Detail pics of Big Red forthcoming.
The Walters were actually pretty cool trucks. The 1959 out at RDU left right before I started, so we had the 1973 CB-3000 and the CBDG (I think that was it. The CB-3000 was CFR-4. It carried 3000 gallons of water and 500 gallons of foam concentrate (AFFF) in twin bladders. It was powered by twin Detroit diesels and had twin 750 gpm pumps. The cab was huge and drafty. Ours was unique becasue there were NO MUFFLERS!. It would run about 52-53 mph tops.
The other one was a 1500 gallon truck with 180 gallons of foam (AFFF) concentrate. It had one Detroit diesel as a driving engine, and I think it was a Ford industrial diesel as the pumping engine (for a 1000 gpm pump). This truck was much faster (about 65 mph) but was very top heavy. It was designed as a combination ARFF and structural truck. Brett Fowler and I eventually rigged a 1 1/2” crosslay on it for structural use.
Those were the days…..
DJ (Email) - 06/26/07 - 10:02
More pictures of Big Red: http://www.flickr.com/photos/legeros/set..
Legeros - 07/01/07 - 09:52