I-Team: Concerns After Fire Truck Wheel Problem
By Walt Hunter
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- When Pipeline 52 rolls out from its Wissinoming firehouse, its crew is prepared to expect pretty much anything. But on Tuesday, they suddenly discovered a set of their rear wheels, along with the axle, had begun coming off their pumper truck.
"If a wheel comes flying off, you have a projectile that could hurt another person, it can cause another major incident or crash," Andrew Thomas, President of Firefighters Local 22 told CBS 3's Walt Hunter.
"It could hurt the members that are on the apparatus, plus the responding truck could crash into anything."
Fortunately, Thomas explained, the truck was not moving at top emergency speed and no one was hurt. But, he adds, breakdowns in the department's aging fleet are a real worry.
"I'm concerned that the aging apparatus will affect our members' safety," the union president told Hunter.
After a medic unit caught fire, heavily damaging a firehouse at 4th and Arch Sts. in September, 2013, the CBS 3 I-Team for the past two years has documented a series of apparatus failures, many involving older units.
The day after Pipeline 52 began losing its wheels, we found a 24-year-old pumper truck, with more than 191,000 miles on its odometer, covering for a frontline apparatus that was not in service.
The aging pumper "first due" to respond to any fire or hazmat incident at South Philadelphia refineries.
"It is a safety concern for our members, yes, operating older equipment that should have been taken off the streets."
Meanwhile, city officials say they are committed to updating city fire apparatus as quickly as possible. The officials pointing out that since 2012, they have purchased 21 pumpers/Engines, 36 Medic units, and two ladders.
The officials add that five new ladder trucks are on order, one due in mid-October, along with two pumpers and five additional Medic units by the Spring of 2016.
Finally, officials say, they plan to order three ladders, four pumpers and five medics when, in their words, "capital funds are available in December."
Meanwhile, as they await repair of their truck, the crew of Pipeline 52 is manning reserve engine 247-a piece of apparatus that, union officials confirm, is 20 years old.
So far, there's no word from city officials on what caused the wheel problem with Pipeline 52, but records they provided show the apparatus did not have a serious history of past maintenance problems.
