Thursday, February 19, 2009

New Fire Support Unit Update



Here is the latest information and photos of our new Ford F550 Fire Support Unit.

With the help of former SJFD Asst. Chief John McMillan, the lightbar, control switch box, radio and antennae installation was turned over to the SJFD shop. The work was completed today, Feb. 19, with a BIG thank you to Steve Bilycia, SJ shop communications installer, and Lee Tomita of Tomita Communications, LLC. Steve and Lee are shown in the above photos proudly showing off their work. (To see an enlargement, just click on the above photos.) Also involved in making this happen were shop manager Dan Sunseri and Don Beams, Fleet Manager, City of San Jose General Services Department.

By the way. The presence of the rig at the shop drew the attention of every mechanic there. They were all very impressed with both the quality of the rig and the caliber of the work done to date by Don Gilbert.

The latest word on the graphics application is that True Color Graphics is waiting for delivery of the vinyl material for the lettering. That is supposed to arrive next Tuesday and then the lettering then needs to be cut out to shape and applied to the rig.

The graphics application work probably won't be started until after the SJFD 155th Anniversary Celebration on February 26. That's too bad, but we have to live with it. In any case, the rig will be on display behind SJFD Station 1 during the event.

Three additional photos can be viewed at the following link: New FSU #2

Stay tuned. We're almost there!