Two Vermont fire agencies, the Bolton Fire Department and the Morrisville Fire Department, recently took delivery of MiniEvo™ pumpers built by HME Ahrens-Fox.
Glenn Davis, president of Lakes Region Fire Apparatus, who sold the MiniEvos to the two departments, says the two rigs were nearly identical in all major components except for compartment layouts and SCBA placement. “The trucks are built on Ford F-550 4×4 Super Duty chassis with XLT crew cabs, powered by Ford Power Stroke 6.7 liter V8 330-hp engines,” Davis says. “Each has a Hale DSD 1,500-gpm pump, a 300-gallon polypropylene water tank, a 15-gallon foam cell, and an FRC 2.6 direct-injection Class A foam system.”
The Morrisville (VT) Fire Department had HME Ahrens-Fox build this MiniEvo pumper on a Ford F-550 4×4 Super Duty chassis, with a Hale DSD 1,500 gallons per minute (gpm) pump, a 300 gallon water tank, 15 gallon foam cell, and FRC 2.6 direct injection Class A foam system. (Photos courtesy of Lakes Region Fire Apparatus.)
Wheelbase on the MiniEvo units is 203 inches, overall length is 25 feet 7 inches, overall height is 7 feet 10 inches, and GVWR is 19,500 pounds.
Davis notes that the two MiniEvo pumpers each have two 200 foot 1 ¾-inch crosslays, a 2½-inch discharge on the left side, a 3-inch and 4-inch discharge on the right side, a thermal relief valve, a 2-inch tank fill, and a 3-inch tank suction. “They carry 800 feet of 4-inch LDH,” Davis points out, “have Garmin GPS backup cameras, shoreline chargers with auto eject, rear receiver hitches, Gortite painted roll-up doors, pump house heaters, two 6-inch hard suction lengths, and a 14-foot two-section extension ladder, an 8-foot roof ladder, and an 8-foot folding ladder flat mounted on the top of the right side compartments.”
The Bolton (VT) Fire Department had HME Ahrens-Fox build it a near-identical MiniEvo pumper, with differences only in compartment interiors, and a heavy duty front bumper brush guard.
Lighting on the rigs includes LED compartment lighting, Whelen LED warning lighting, and two FRC Spectra LED scene lights. Davis says the Morrisville MiniEvo has pull-out trays in four compartments, tool boards in two compartments, and pull-out tool boards in the L1 compartments for SCBA storage. “The differences on the Bolton MiniEvo,” he adds, “are that they have a standard shelf package with adjustable trays, pull-out trays in the L1 compartment, the SCBA mounted on the back wall in the L2 compartment, and a heavy-duty front bumper brush guard.”
This rear view of the Bolton MinEvo pumper shows the 14 foot extension ladder, 8 foot roof ladder, and 8 foot folding ladder flat mounted on the top right of the vehicle.
The Morrisville Fire Department also runs a 2003 Spartan pumper with a 1,500-gpm pump and 500-gallon water tank, a 1994 E-ONE/International 4900 pumper with a 1,250-gpm pump and 1,000-gallon water tank, a 2017 HME Ahrens-Fox 80-foot rear-mount aerial quint with a 1,500-gpm pump and 400-gallon water tank, a 1995 GMC 3500 brush truck, an International tanker, and a Freightliner rescue truck from a single station.
The Bolton Fire Department, which also operates out of one station, added the MiniEvo to its other apparatus, a 2007 E-ONE International pumper-tanker with a 1,500-gpm pump and 2,000-gallon water tank, a 2000 E-ONE/International pumper, an International tanker, and a Ford F-350 rescue truck.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.
