Squmpers

[buckeyedoc]

Do any services you know of use squmpers? For those who don't know what a squmper is, it is a fire engine with a patient compartment as well. What are your thoughts on this? Below are a few samples.

STFD Engine 92

STFD Engine 93

[JPINFV]

The patient compartment looks tiny. And what are they going to do when there is a fire and they need to transport?

[Ridryder 911]

Looks like another way for firefighters to "justify" their existence. Great!.. with diesel at $4.00 a gallon and let's put that COPS in a smokey smelling apparatus.. hmmmm. As well, they could not enter most ER drives I know of with small turning radius.

Like others describe hard to "justify" over half million dollar to million dollar ambulance.

Be safe,

R/r 911

[Scaramedic]

When I worked in Denver one of the suburban FD's had one of these units, I can't remember which department though. I never saw the use of a "squmper" to transport patients. The biggest problem is that to load the cot you had to lift it four or five feet in the air, there is no way this is practical if you had a patient on it. This might have changed on the newer units, I don't know. The only use I could see was it was a great place to store equipment, but the unit I saw was not good for pt transport.

Peace,

Marty

:thumbleft:

[island emt]

NAH ! thats just a place for the old fire officers to take a nap.

[TechMedic05]

Cambridge, MA has one of these. Not very impressive.

Take an overly-small ambulance - It's no good for EMS.

Take an engine with only 500 gallons of water, less hose, and extra junk that isn't practical - No good for fire.

Put them together on the same truck and all of the sudden it's the greatest thing?? :tard:

It's a lot like Quints in the fire service.

They learned 50 years ago that 50 foot aerials aren't long enough.

Also learned that insufficient amounts of water, like 300 gallons, isn't enough for firefighting operations.

But, 50 years later they can be placed back onto the SAME vehicle, and they're like, the greatest thing since inhalators.

::shrug::

[nsmedic393]

What a dumb idea. Only carries two firefighters and the stretcher. So you are short staffed and the patient gets to enjoy the stink of a smokey cab while riding to the hospital. Not to mention all that gear piled onto the stretcher. Where is all that crap going to go once you have a patient?

[CROM]

These are no good. Need to get rid of them. It's plain craziness to want to tranport on a fire engine or fight fire from an ambulance.

[Dustdevil]

Any fire chief who actually bought that stupid thing should be de-certified and prosecuted for fraud. :roll:

[ReD]

i saw those on the manufactures website, always wondered what the inisde looked like. all i can think of is extra money and they could use em for transport during an MCI but then you always get the problem of that truck having lines on the ground.........kinda like those medium duty boxes on freightliner chasis that have a pump & like 300gallons. great for a car fire & transport the patients, right? well youd have to just drop the hoses on scene, and what about overhaul? and ive heard some people say that extrication tools should be on ambulances. well if youre busy cuttin the car apart, whos takin care of the pt? im fine with ff/paramedics, but trying to combine 2 totally different pieces of apparatus into one....no go there buddy.

It's a lot like Quints in the fire service.

They learned 50 years ago that 50 foot aerials aren't long enough.

Also learned that insufficient amounts of water, like 300 gallons, isn't enough for firefighting operations.

But, 50 years later they can be placed back onto the SAME vehicle, and they're like, the greatest thing since inhalators.

::shrug::

Quint dosnt mean shorter than a 50' aerial, and they do have their place, expesially for aerial master stream operations. also, trucks and quints with 300gallons of water or so, are ok for rubbish and car fires. the purpose of a truck isnt to have water, plus, in most citys, where water supply isnt a problem, who cares how much tank water you have. rural situations are another thing though.

What a dumb idea. Only carries two firefighters and the stretcher. So you are short staffed and the patient gets to enjoy the stink of a smokey cab while riding to the hospital. Not to mention all that gear piled onto the stretcher. Where is all that crap going to go once you have a patient?

that is a 4-man cab, whihc is the norm unless for FDNY but they do everything their own way. so for national standards, its a normal sized cab, not a small one.