Winder, GA - Barrow County Emergency Services (BCES) has recently expanded its fleet of fire apparatus by adding a 78’ quintuple combination pumper (aka “quint”) to its inventory of rolling stock. This truck is equipped with a rear-mounted aerial ladder that can be used to access multi-story buildings for rescue or direct elevated streams of water into fires for fire attack.

The apparatus serves five functions by providing a 1500 Gallons-per-Minute (GPM) pump, a 500-gallon water tank, fire hose, a 78’ aerial device, and an assortment of ground ladders. It will go into service at Station 5 off of Hwy 211 in the northwest end of the county. Quint 5 will be replacing Engine 5 and will respond to all calls for service in the areas surrounding Station 5. The engine currently in service as Engine 5 will be reallocated to Station 3 in Bethlehem to serve as the first out fire apparatus there. Until now, calls requiring an aerial apparatus in the Braselton, Hoschton and Auburn areas were covered by Truck 7, a ladder truck stationed near Hwy 316 and Carl Bethlehem Road. Quint 5 has seating for four firefighters.

Having aerial apparatus on both ends of the county can help decrease response time and increase effectiveness by getting elevated water streams on big fires faster.

Quint 5 was built by E-One based in Ocala, Florida, and will have an approximate service life of 10 years. It is scheduled to be placed into service in early March 2021.

“We are excited to add this apparatus to the BCES fleet. This state-of-the-art truck will enhance the level of service we provide and will hopefully allow us to improve upon our ISO rating. I’d like to thank the citizens of Barrow County and the Board of Commissioners for approving this expenditure,” said BCES Chief Alan Shuman.

A push-in ceremony was held at Station 5 on March 8th. The push-in is an old fire service tradition that allows fire crews to push the apparatus into the bay for the first time to place it into service. The tradition goes back to the days of horse-drawn fire carts that had to be hand pushed-in to the bay backwards to be facing out for quicker responses. The push-in ceremony had members of Station 5 crews, county commissioners, the interim county manager, and other special guests.