LEARNING TO DRIVE A TILLER TRUCK

In lower Manhattan the streets are really narrow and cars are always parked where they don’t belong, making it impossible to maneuver an aerial truck to a fire.  

The city bought 8 tiller aerial trucks (a tiller is an aerial ladder truck with an extra set of wheels in the rear steered  by a firefighter sitting back there.  The city was told these trucks could maneuver through the narrow streets.  Since the truck was 57 foot long, it could not negotiate the streets and turns even with the additional rear wheel controls.  Our side of the city was offered 4 tillers at a good price to see if they would work out in our district.  

I was a Lieutenant by now and was told to take 4 men in a Battalion Chief’s car out to Montauk, Long Island and pick up an old tiller truck that the city had bought from a volunteer Fire Department.  I took 4 of the best of the best, the oldest and most experienced drivers in our Firehouse.  No one had ever driven a tiller before.  When they gave me this assignment, I went to the library to read up on how to drive a tiller.  

The tiller the city bought was old and in terrible shape.  The tiller cab had no glass in it and the seat was missing.  A firefighter had to sit on a tied up bundle of newspaper to drive the rear wheels. We drove back to the city at 30 mph on the Long Island Expressway. Three of us on the tiller and 1 firefighter drove the Chief’s car back. Every hour the Firefighters would alternate driving positions. Since I was the only officer, I had to ride in the tiller all the way back - up front where there was no glass and no seat. Talk about rank not having any privileges.

The city got permission to use the huge parking lot at the Yonkers race track during the day when it was not open to the public.  We set up orange cones the width of the narrow streets and firehouse door openings.  The Firefighters practiced for weeks and became expert drivers.  One day they challenged me to drive the rear wheels.  They made every maneuver they could to make me hit an orange cone.  I never hit one.  On the way back to take this tiller to the warehouse where we kept it overnight, I turned the rear wheels sharply to the left causing them to run parallel to the front wheels.  I called the driver’s radio and told him to look out his left window.  There I was running even with his steering wheel and waving at him.  They were surprised and shocked.  They had never seen this maneuver.  Reading everything about a tiller helped me get even with these drivers.  

The chief decided to try 2 tillers for a year to see if they could work out.  These trucks were just too big and some could not even get out of a firehouse because of phone or light poles opposite the firehouse.  A new aerial truck came out at this time.  It was called a rear mount.  The controls for the aerial ladder were over the rear wheels and the aerial ladder extended over the cab and hood of the truck making it a little bit bigger than an engine but much shorter than the tiller.  This new aerial ladder was just as maneuverable as an engine and it was the wave of the future.  It had an automatic transmission, a heater, power steering, a roof over the cab – all the niceties that the rigs I had to drive never had. Red was replaced with the new Lime green that was coming out as the new color for fire apparatus.  Supposedly it was more visible at night, especially with the new blue flashing lights.   Apparently to someone who is color blind, red appears black. 

Whatever color the rig is, if you see one coming – get out of its way!