W.S. Darley & Company has built a WASP quick-attack tactical pumper on a Ford F-550 4×4 chassis with Super Single wheels and tires for Ringwood Borough (NJ) Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1.
Troy Carothers, Darley’s contract administrator and CAFS manager, points out that the WASP features a Darley PSMC 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) midship, split-shaft pump, with a Darley AutoCAFS 120-cubic feet per minute (cfm) compressed air foam system plumbed to four CAFS discharges. “We use the FoamPro 2001 foam system with the Advanced Feature Controller to inject the Phoschek WD881 Class A foam that’s environmentally friendly into the water pump stream on the discharge side of the pump so no foam ever gets into the main pump or the water tank,” Carothers says.
The Ringwood WASP also has a 315-gallon water tank, a 25-gallon foam tank, and an Odin AutoFill automatic direct tank fill system, Carothers says. “Just hook up a 2-1/2-inch pressurized water line to the fitting on the back of the rig and flick the toggle switch to ‘auto’,” he notes. “The water tank will then stay at between 50% and 85%, automatically opening the electric valve to fill the tank. The body and tank are integral and made from the same copolymer plastic material so they will never corrode.”
Ken Diaz, a past chief at Ringwood and chair of the truck committee, says his fire district has “a lot of switchbacks and narrow driveways, so we went with the 4×4 WASP in order to be able to get to the front door and use our CAFS capability where we can make 2,200-gallons of CAFS from 300 gallons of water. We also have the option of dropping a 3-inch supply line because the WASP has 900 feet of 3-inch hose in the hose bed.”
Diaz adds that the WASP has three 1-3/4-inch hose cross lays, each of 250 feet, over the pump house, and 400 feet of preconnected 1-3/4-inch hose off the rear of the rig. The WASP also carries 400 feet of 2-1/2 inch hose tipped with a Task Force Tips Blitzfire nozzle that can replace the rear 1-3/4-inch hose line.
Paul Silverthorne, owner of North Jersey Fire and Rescue, notes that the Darley AutoCAFS 120-cfm Bauer compressor can feed three handlines simultaneously. “That was a selling point for the fire department, as well as the fact that they wanted to be able to pull a hazardous materials trailer when necessary,” Silverthorne points out. “The 4×4 WASP with Super Singles satisfied all of their needs.”
Diaz notes that the Darley WASP is the fire department’s first CAFS vehicle. “The WASP tactical pumper is doing exactly what we had hoped it would do for us,” he observes.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Ariz.-based journalist, the author of three novels and five non-fiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment editorial advisory board. He served 22 years with Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including the position of chief.
