A Rosenbauer RTX was at the Superior Fire Department headquarters Monday, Aug. 14 to demonstrate what an all-electric rig can do.
With a lead time of up to two years to get a new vehicle, Superior Fire Chief Camron Vollbrecht said now is the time to test the city's options.
"We're getting ahead of the game so we can have it in 2026," Vollbrecht said. "It looks quite a bit different from our regular trucks."
The Rosenbauer RTX is smaller than a typical fire truck used by the fire department. It offers all-wheel drive, adjustable ground clearances and has maneuverability unlike a typical rear-wheel drive fire truck. While it offers standard steering capability, it also has all-wheel steering for counter-steering and crab steering as a standard feature of the truck.
It's completely different than the diesel fire rigs, said Capt. John Prendergast. The ability to maneuver the vehicle will be nice.
Prendergast had the opportunity to drive the rig during a visit to the Rosenbauer facility in Wyoming, Minnesota.
Zach Paul of Rosenbauer said all-wheel steering will reduce the total steering radius, making it easier to navigate narrow residential streets.
In on-scene mode, the vehicle has a ground clearance of seven inches, but adjusts to an 11-inch clearance for driving mode, Paul said. The vehicle also adjusts to a 14-inch clearance in off-road mode and 18 inches in wading mode to maneuver through flooded areas. In wading mode, the vehicle cannot exceed 15 miles per hour, he said.
"It'll allow us to get around a little bit better in the winter," Vollbrecht said.
"It's certainly much quieter," said Battalion Chief Bob Zimmerman, who also had a chance to drive the all-electric rig prior to Monday's demonstration. "And the turning radius is beautiful compared to our regular apparatus ... much better on residential streets."
Charging the two batteries that run the rig and its systems from zero would take about 45 minutes, Paul said. A half-hour would get the vehicle to 80% charged, he said.
The Los Angeles Fire Department doesn't even plug in their rig during the day, Paul said.
"They simply go off of regenerative braking and the backup system, and they are able to go all day," Paul said. The company wouldn't recommend plugging the truck in after every call because like any electronic device, he said it would lose recharging capacity that way.
"Everything in this truck runs 100% off the battery," Paul said. "There is not one thing on this truck that is operated by the backup energy system ... the sole purpose of the backup energy system is to keep the batteries charged. This is the only truck in the market that doesn't have an onboard diesel engine."
When battery power drops to 20%, Paul said the backup energy system automatically kicks in to recharge the batteries.
"While you're pumping, while you're in rescue operations, whatever the heck you are doing, if the battery drops to 20%, the backup energy system kicks on," Paul said.
Scene lighting, pumps, filling and draining the onboard water tank all run off the battery and are controlled with proprietary technology in the pump panel at the back of the vehicle. If a problem arises, it can be diagnosed on the pump panel, Paul said.
"It will make us a leader in the state," Mayor Jim Paine said. "It will make our fire department much more effective and more efficient."
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