Editor’s Note: FireRescue1’s audience series, Inside the Hosebed, is where firefighters share how their engines are set up — and why.
Across the country, departments solve similar challenges in different ways based on staffing, first-due areas, apparatus space and local response needs. By showcasing real-world hosebed layouts from the field, we hope to create a practical library of ideas firefighters can learn from, compare against and adapt for their own operations.
If you’d like to have your engine featured, we want to hear from you. Submit your photos and details to: editor@firerescue1.com. Please include “Inside the Hosebed” in the subject line.
UPPER CHICHESTER, Pa. — Upper Chichester Fire Department Engine 10 is a 2020 E-ONE Typhoon with a 1,500 GPM pump and 780-gallon water tank. The department also operates Squad 10, a 2010 Pierce Arrow XT PUC equipped with a 1,500-gpm pump, a 500-gallon water tank and a 30-gallon foam cell. In addition to standard engine company equipment, Squad 10 carries a variety of tools for vehicle rescue and other special service operations.
Left to right:
- 300’ 1-3/4”, smoothbore, modified minuteman
- 200’ 1-3/4” smoothbore, modified minuteman
- 950’ of 2-1/2” reduced down to 100’ 1-3/4” bundle load, with a breakaway nozzle
- 1,400’ 4” LDH
- 2 100’ 2” high-rise racks (one smoothbore, one breakaway)
- 300’ 1-3/4”, breakaway, modified minuteman
- 2 200’ 1-3/4” crosslays and 1 150’ bumper line
The Upper Chichester Fire Department is a 100% volunteer department with a live-in program serving Upper Chichester Township in Delaware County, along with surrounding communities. The department provides fire suppression, rescue and emergency medical services. More than 40 volunteers staff the agency’s engine, truck and squad companies.
Its 7-square-mile primary response area includes about 17,000 residents, along with thousands of homes, businesses, industrial facilities and several highways.
Want to have your engine featured in FireRescue1’s Inside the Hosebed?
Send us your photos and details at editor@firerescue1.com. Be sure to include:
- Hoseline size, length and nozzle tip, listed from left to right
- Information about your first-due area and any unique response considerations
- Why your hosebed is set up the way it is
- Clear, focused photos with permission from your department to share
Submissions don’t need to be long or polished — we’re looking for real-world setups and the thinking behind them.
All submissions are reviewed by FireRescue1 editors before publication. Content should reflect your department’s experience and follow standard professionalism and safety considerations.
