Spartan Cassion

[tbendick]

Starting a new thread of the history of the spartan. See Below for a statement from ORFD 12-19
Here are the LODD that I can find which used the Spartan.

FIREFIGHTER
CHRISTIAN P. ENGELDRUM
LADDER 61
NOVEMBER 29, 2004

* LIEUTENANT
JOHN J. BELLEW
LADDER 27
JANUARY 23, 2005

Meyran?

FIREFIGHTER
RICHARD T. SCLAFANI
LADDER 103
JANUARY 23, 2005

FIREFIGHTER
MICHAEL C. REILLY
ENGINE 75
AUGUST 27, 2006

LIEUTENANT
HOWARD J. CARPLUK JR.
ENGINE 42
AUGUST 28, 2006

FIREFIGHTER
DANIEL F. PUJDAK
LADDER 146
JUNE 21, 2007

FIREFIGHTER
ROBERT BEDDIA
ENGINE 24
AUGUST 18, 2007

* LIEUTENANT
JOSEPH GRAFFAGNINO
LADDER 5
AUGUST 18, 2007

LIEUTENANT
JOHN H. MARTINSON
ENGINE 249
JANUARY 3, 2008

FIREFIGHTER
JAMEL M. SEARS
BOT
NOVEMBER 11, 2008

LIEUTENANT
ROBERT J. RYAN, JR.
ENGINE 155
NOVEMBER 23, 2008

FIREFIGHTER
PAUL WARHOLA
ENGINE 221
AUGUST 14, 2009

LIEUTENANT
RICHARD A. NAPPI
ENGINE 237
APRIL 16, 2012


From ORFD 12-19:
First off let me introduce myself.  My name is Jason and I'm from Charlotte MI.  A volunteer for a small paid on call department and an employee of Spartan Chassis for many, many years.  I joined this forum specifically for the Caisson being discussed.  Some of you may be members of groups on facebook and have seen the inquiries I've had about this rig.

Here is a brief history.

After the tragic events of 9/11, Spartan employees wanted to do something to help the City of New York and FDNY.  Employees persuaded management to build an engine and donate it to FDNY.  So vendors jumped on board, employees donated hundreds of hours and the engine was built and delivered December of 2001.  An extraordinary feet if you know how long a typical build takes.  Sadly, from what I'm finding out the pump did not meet FDNY specifications and was never put in service.  The water tank was removed, the pump was disabled and the hose bed was modified to carry a casket in caisson.  The engine was built with an unspeakable amount of pride.  In fact all employees signed the inside of the cab while it was raw aluminum, inside of one of the doors it says "F**k Bin Laden".

Through the years I've followed the engine from images you would see on line and new it was primarily used for Caisson.  Then the rig just disappeared.  Well recently I found out why.  It was in a building that flooded during hurricane Sandy and suffered extensive damage.  It was decommissioned and sold to Copart. 

While at copart, somebody from Georgia bought the engine with the intent of refurbishing it.  They got the engine running again but the rig wouldn't move.  So they called up to Spartan looking for direction.  That got the wheels turning.  When employees found out about the rigs condition and location, employees that were apart of the original build had a sit down with the new CEO and told him we want this truck back.  He didn't bat and eye and said "go get it".

So the engine is back where it was created.  The engine needs extensive work and our end goal is to get it moving and stopping under it's own power again.  It's going to be kept at spartan as a reminder of what we do and honor those it was built for.

If you have any information about the engine through out it's life, pictures or names of those it carried in caisson please let me know.  One of the ideas that keeps getting brought up is to put "Rebuilt In Honor Of" on the back doors with the names of those it carried home.  So far I have only been able to identify

Christian Engeldrum    Iraq, 11/29/04
Lt. Richard Nappi  LODD  4/16/12

If you have information that you don't want to make public online please let me know and I'll give you my email address.

Thank you in advance and thank you for the ad!

 

[BCR]

Link to a picture when used for LT Nappi rip
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fdnyhome/6954078816/

 

[ORFD 12-19]

Thank you tbendick for starting this thread!

I have found photographic evidence of the truck in Caisson for all the names you've listed including:

Curtis W Meyran
Battalion 26
January 23rd 2005

There are two LODD during the time of the engines service that I can't find any information about

Thomas C. Brick
James J O'Shea

The engine may have been used for volunteer departments but I haven't found any pictures to support this statement.

 

[ORFD 12-19]

This is the engines condition when it arrived at spartan.

It ran and would go in gear but only the front brakes worked.  The park brake did not function.

 

[BCR]

I have to say the murals on both sides of the cab are beautiful

 

[ORFD 12-19]

I couldn't agree more BCR!

Here is the engines current condition.  There is a definite waterline indicating the rig sat in 4 - 5 feet of water for some time.  The entire air system has been replaced from treadle valve to chambers.  Wheel ends have been rebuilt, extensive electrical work but the end is near.  New front wheels/tires have arrived and we're waiting on rear tires.  With any luck she'll be moving on her own free will in the next week or so.

 

[NYBravest82]

I hope you guys are considering making at least a mini documentary about this because it sounds inspiring to me.

 

[Nasibova]

I too am enjoying monitoring this .

 

[ORFD 12-19]

It's a great Monday!  Everything came in and we were able to get the rig on the ground.  It now builds air, purges with operational brakes and park brake. 

The bad news is after all the electrical work everything is still dead.  Headlights, markers, turn signal, windshield wipers and so on are all in-op.  We discovered that the nodes were below the water line and we can not communicate with them.  So.... we have to see if we can get our hand on new nodes. 

I'll probably take it out for a test drive on Wednesday since there is still a lot of buttoning up to do underneath from replacing all of the air system components.

Here are a couple of pictures after is was backed out of the building.

 

[ORFD 12-19]

picture #2

 

[Nasibova]

Very  Nice

 

[Len90]

That is really nice to see what Spartan is doing. Very nice to see all that hard work being put back into it again to get the rig moving once more.

Any idea where the rig was kept that it was flooded out so badly? I thought the only stuff really destroyed by Sandy were pieces that operated in high water during the storm.

 

[68jk09]

The Cassion was in the FDNY storage facility on Paige Ave in Greenpoint & the creek overflowed & flooded the area ....several Rigs were damaged there.

 

[ORFD 12-19]

58jk09 -  do you know which building?  I was looking on Google and all I can see on Paidge ave in Greenpoint is big building for Shell and Time Warner Cable.  For all I know I may be looking in the wrong location. 

 

[Chief321]

IF YOU GOOGLE MAP  PROVOST AND PAIDGE IN BROOKLYN. THERE IS A OPEN GARAGE DOR NEXT TO A WHITE BOOTH THAT WAS THE ENTRANCE TO THE STORAGE AREA.    59 PAIDGE

 

[ORFD 12-19]

Thanks Chief!  That's where I was looking but I was expecting a sign or something indicating what the building was for.  I've never been out east.  The size is mind boggling to me.  The department I'm on protects 38 square miles with a population just over 3,000.

After looking at the map I understand why it flooded.

 

[ORFD 12-19]

I thought it was about time for an update.  Progress slowed as I have been traveling since May but we're getting back under way.

The electrical gremlins are starting to get sorted out.  It's currently up to DOT spec for all lighting.  The alternator has been replace but now the starter is starting to act up.  Which is to be expected.

The engine spent a lengthy amount of time in the body shop.  I never took any pictures up close but when the engine was decommissioned all of the striping and FDNY identifiers were painted over with this nasty green paint.  Whoever bought it from copart literally went after the green paint with a putty knife.  The red/white paint was in bad shape.  So that's all fixed up now.

There is a considerable drive-line noise 55 mph and up.  After inspection we found that the output shaft bearing on the pump transmission is letting go.  The pump is currently froze in road gear.  Since the pump hasn't been used in years and never will be we decided remove the pump transmission and install a straight shaft with carrier bearings.  This should take place within the next couple of weeks.

It will be getting some type of memorial stickers on it at the end of the month.  I don't know what they will look like yet but I've been pushing to honor those from 9/11 and those it carried to their final resting place.

I've been commuting in the engine for a couple of weeks now to work the bugs out.  I've put probably close to 500 miles on it.  It really is an honorable, sobering experience to drive it.

This picture is sitting in my driveway late last week.

 

[Nasibova]

Very Nice.

 

[ORFD 12-19]

The engine has made it's debut. 

It was driven in the Funeral procession for City of Lansing fire fighter Dennis Rodeman who was killed while raising money for muscular dystrophy.

Dennis was slated to be carried in the rig pictured or what has become known around here as the "9/11 truck".  The SeaGrave that was in the movie BURN was later chosen to carry him in procession. 

The engine is now road worth as it made a 400+ mile round trip to another memorial in northern Michigan last weekend.  All of the lights are again fully functional, even the warning lights.

My next mission is to find the light bars that were on it when it was built. 

 

[ORFD 12-19]

This is a closeup of the memorial wrap that was put on the back doors of the cab.