Drakeville VFD - Torrington
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Organized in 1949, Drakesville VFD protects a five square mile area of the Drake's Mill section of the City of Torrington. Twelve active volunteer members provide fire protection in conjunction with the career City of Torrington FD answering an annual average of 100 alarms.
This four bay station houses the entire fleet consisting of an engine, brush truck and tanker. Originally built in 1954, it has had several extensions added to the truck bays and living quarters through the late 1980's. It is located across the street from the original firehouse which consisted of a single car garage in the rear of The Hemlocks bar.
Engine 35 - 1989 Simon-Duplex/Boardman 1250 gpm/1000 gal.
When originally built, this rig was featured in a Boardman promotional brochure for the Chieftain Series. Seating six (five with SCBA), it is equipped with three 250' crosslays (two 1-3/4", one 2-1/2"), 1,500' of 5" LDH supply line, a 5" manifold with four discharges, 20' each of 2-1/2" and 6" hard suctions as well as a portable pump.
Brush 36 - 1997 Ford F-450 Super Duty/Gowans-Knight 300 gal.
The pride of Drakeville, this carefully maintained rig (which has no rust after 20+ years of service) has been a State Parade Champion for Best Appearing Brush Truck eight times since 2004 (its' multiple years of winning first place are proudly displayed on the side of the apparatus). It features a 300' booster reel and a 3/4" discharge to fill backpack
style "Indian Cans".
Tanker 38 - 2011 International 7600/VTEC 1000 gpm/3000 gal.
Serving a 95% non-hydranted response area, Tanker 38 responds first due in conjunction with the career City of Torrington FD's aerial quints to provide an adequate water supply. Featuring a Firovac® vacuum allowing a 1,000 gpm fill/discharge (up to 32' above the draft site), the forward part of the rig is built as an attack pumper while behind the pump panel is pure tanker with all 6" intakes featuring cam-lock connections. Having replaced a 1974 International/Farrar front mount pumper-tanker, it features independent differential axle controls allowing all eight rear wheels to spin (even if they are off the ground). Featuring On-Spot® snow chains (as well as manual chains), it is outfitted with the same crosslays as Engine 35 as well as 70' of 6" hard suction with camlocks, 500' of 5" LDH supply line, two SCBA and a 3,000 gallon folding tank.