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First of two new ARFF trucks at airport fire station gets pushy welcome from local officials
Juneau International Airport expects to have full fleet of specialized trucks by October, after problems with older and borrowed vehicles put limits on flights earlier this year
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
A new specialized fire truck that will help ensure Juneau International Airport doesn’t face the shutdown scare that briefly arose during the past winter was officially put into service on Friday.
The Rosenbauer 4x4 aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle (ARFF) got a midday ceremonial "push-in" to its bay by about a dozen local officials at the Glacier Fire Station next to the airport. The ceremony is a tradition for new vehicles dating back to horse-drawn fire engines of the 1800s that had to be pushed in by people when returning from an incident — although the 57,000-pound Rosenbauer had a driver at the wheel to "assist" the officials pushing the front of the truck.
Yet another new ARFF truck, an Oshkosh Striker 6x6, is scheduled to arrive within weeks, which means the station will once again have three such vehicles of its own after a lengthy effort to replace older trucks, said Capital City Fire/Rescue Chief Tom Hatley.
"Our fleet will be complete and it'll be good enough that I don't have to worry about it during my tenure or anybody else's tenure here," Hatley said during brief remarks to the attendees. "These are 20-year apparatus."
Having three ARFF trucks matters because with fewer trucks the airport can only accommodate smaller jets — and can’t be open at all if no ARFF trucks are available, under Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
ARFF trucks feature large-capacity water storage and chemical extinguishers for plane fires, and have all-terrain capabilities so they can access unpaved areas near runways. At the beginning of this year Juneau’s airport had three such trucks with model years of 2016, 2003 and 1992, but the older two weren’t functional and thus were borrowing two trucks from elsewhere.
In February the airport went through a two-week period when the station’s 2016 truck and one of the borrowed trucks were out of service, Airport Manager Andres Delgado told Assembly members during a Feb. 25 Finance Committee meeting. He said that meant the smaller jet restriction was in effect — with a maximum length of 125 allowed instead of 158 feet — and the airport would have had to close temporarily if the third truck got a flat tire or had some other malfunction.
The ARFF truck put into service Friday had already been ordered at that time, but Delgado also said options were being explored for the quick purchase of another new truck to bring the fleet back to full strength. The station recently has been using ARFF trucks borrowed from Palmer and Texas to ensure three working vehicles are at the station.
Hatley, in an interview after the push-in ceremony, said the Palmer truck is being returned with the deployment of the station’s new truck and the Texas truck will be returned when the second new vehicle is ready for service. He said the Rosenbauer 4x4 arrived about a month ago, but it needed to be equipped and staff training before it was put into service.
That truck has a 1,500-gallon liquid tank, while the soon-to-arrive Oshkosh Striker has a 3,000-gallon tank, Hatley said.
An open house at the fire station is planned Oct. 10, when both new trucks are expected to be ready, Hatley said.
Delgado on Friday said the airport fire station averages two or three incidents a month that require an ARFF truck deployment, although they typically don’t involve actual emergencies.
"They do respond to standby events," he said. "So if someone reports a hydraulic failure or landing gear going down, these guys go out and they stand by waiting for something to happen. Thank God we haven't had to use their full capability in the last handful of years."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
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