Accessible in a hurry, they remain out of the line of sight for aesthetics. As they do in 99 percent of the heavy rescues in the United States, PVFD firefighters use these vehicles primarily at structure fires, providing ladder-company assignments, ventilation, salvage, forcible entry, filling air bottles and floodlighting. With onboard foam and water, the pumper rescue need not depend on another engine to provide crew and victim-protection lines at vehicular extrications. Some 100 active members respond to approximately 500 calls annually. There are 11,000 homes in the affluent, white-collar neighborhoods, plus numerous strip malls, schools, nursing homes and other commercial structures.
Firefighters primarily respond to fires and vehicular extrications.
In quiet moments, volunteers sell raffle tickets, stage dinners and dances and man county fair booths to raise money. All three McCandless volunteer fire departments have struggled to recruit new members. Heather Kowger told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review . The rear bed sports three attack lines, a large load of LDH, ground ladders and soft suction hose. He recalled an incident four years ago in a huge park consisting of 1,900 acres with a watershed.