How a Mistake Turned into a Community's Pride and Joy!

No matter how much you plan things something always changes. The Lafayette Fire Company was charted in 1943 and ordered their first new truck when it arrived in 1949 it was not the "color" they ordered but instead of getting upset or getting it repainted they just rolled with it and adopted the tradition of ORANGE as a fire truck. I have to personally say these rigs are sharp looking. Chief David Keens and crew walk us through this week's Station Cribs episode. A house that was completed in 2011 still looks new today because of the dedication and innovations this station has taken to keep up with the demands of volunteers staffing the trucks.
The station is beautiful but it's the people that make this station run. Their vision states: "The volunteers of the Lafayette Fire Company of East Lampeter Township are committed to providing a level of emergency services that continually improve the quality of life, health, and safety of the people we serve."
Direct from their website is this bio:
The Lafayette Fire Company is located 2 miles east of the City of Lancaster PA and is one of four fire companies that reside in East Lampeter Township which is an ISO Class 4/6 community. We are an all-volunteer department that has been in existence since 1943. We cover a very diverse area covering portions of East Lampeter and Lancaster Townships on a first-due basis as well as several additional municipalities through mutual and automatic aid. Our first due area is very busy with the local tourist industry and includes unique challenges such as limited access highways, numerous hotels, an amusement park, schools, nursing homes, restaurants, numerous factory outlet complexes, a large industrial park, commuter and freight railroad, apartment complexes as well as urban high-density housing and farmland all wrapped into a 15 square mile area. Waterways covered include the Conestoga River and Mill Creek. We pride ourselves on having a well-maintained fleet of well-equipped apparatus and a strong base of active members who ensure that all calls for service are answered to the best of our abilities every time. If you are interested in becoming part of our team, feel free to stop by the station at 63 Lafayette Way on a Monday evening and pick up an application or visit www.joinlafayette.com
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#HeroesNextDoor #firestation #Station Cribs

[@commonsense31]

I think its insane how old and well maintained these trucks are. Where I live they have it good, All Trucks are replaced every 6-8 years. And the old ones is sold abroad. But they do also get some proper funding, and all equipment is bought by the state for every single department. So when you order 50 Trucks you tend to get a pretty big discount on them.

[@reynoldrosa]

If you think Orange and Smurf Blue are unique, the Miami-Dade fire Department paints all of it's fire trucks, boats and helicopters a yellow/lime green color. The only exceptions are Engine 3 and Rescue 3 which are painted red to honor the firefighters that lost their lives on 9/11.

[@AHomelessDorito]

Ohare airport Chicago fire has a similar lime kinda green color for high vis on the airport it’s cool

[@thatkyledude1093]

Ludwig's Corner Station 73 in Chester County PA has the lime green.

[@Portagecountyfirstresponders]

Didn’t know that about R3 and E-3. More departments should do that.

[@reynoldrosa]

@@Portagecountyfirstresponders Yeah, I remember seeing the news story when they first did it. They just put a new Engine 3 into service last year. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6apf3ebicd-kNE

[@sergeantrc9553]

By the way the name of that color is safety yellow and Feyette county pa VFD also uses it

[@RJSAMCRO]

This Chief is a no nonsense straight to the point. I could be wrong but it's almost like he wrote the script for this episode and there are not to many re-take bloopers. LOL

[@HeroesNextDoor]

😂🤣

[@awmperry]

I love the fact that they brought back the original orange engine and built a whole museum around it. Really nice regard for heritage.

[@chuckman231]

Staffed houses save lives and property. Great job Lafayette.

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

also unstaffed volunteer stations can be just as good. Over here we have a response time limit of 10 minutes to reach any address alongside a road ... across the entire country, no matter if it's in the city or in a village, everywhere . We have only 113 career fire departments with staffed stations, compared to more than 22,000 volunteer fire departments with unstaffed stations. The staffed stations cover a much greater area, while the small volunteer stations cover a small area. Combine that with a short turnout time at the staffed stations and a longer turnout time at the unstaffed stations, both will arive on scene at approx. the same time

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Where are you from?

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

@@HeroesNextDoor Chucked Mankin or me? I'm from Germany

[@EyeWatchThemAll]

I like that they pull personnel from other companies without actively trying to "steal them" for Lafayette's rolls.

[@briancarroll3413]

Our VFD runs med units (suvs) from the volunteers house to scene for quicker response. They can also run the dept car easier to the station. So on the medical side the volunteer may be your neighbor.

[@Dieseldickrick]

Gotta do Manheim Township and East Hempfield too. Awesome stations and rigs. Tillers too.

[@WillyPete-fh7fv]

Another great video! Long live the volunteer Firefighter! Here in Australia the "professionals" are trying to get rid of us! We had an incident which involved volunteer and paid "professional" firefighters. The professionals refused to take orders from the incident officer, because he was from a volunteer brigade . Don't let this happen in the USA.

[@aidenward4677]

You just generalised the whole of Australia, it’s career firies and it’s volunteers based off one crappy career Brigade and a stuck up volunteer IC. They aren’t trying to get rid of us, it’s just a simple fact now that Volunteer Brigades are less of a necessary capability in metropolitan and urban areas. If a scene is rescue or structural firefighting, it makes sense that a career(or “professional” as you put it) brigade commands that scene, given their scope and expertise in such areas compared to vollies.

[@WillyPete-fh7fv]

@@aidenward4677 If you say so.

[@law03xx]

I've been watching a few of these videos and it blows my mind. My engine alone had over 4,600 calls in 2023. My firehouse is crap with no space and lots of issues. These companies are fully volunteer and have a mansion to work out of! Not their fault at all, I just don't understand how city politicians think it's OK to use us as a stepping stone for their political motives. The IAFF and local unions of cities need to do better. What an amazing firehouse!

[@LakesRegionEmergencyPhoto]

Probably my favorite so far, the orange rigs are the BEST. I always love non-red trucks. very unique. Edit: a full duty crew of volunteers is also super sweet. Lower response times!

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Couldn't agree more!

[@thecriticalstatepodcast]

As a previous volunteer and paid FF/Medic, why would this improve response times. I’ve been out of the department mindset for about 15 years. Please forgive my ignorance.

[@LakesRegionEmergencyPhoto]

@@HeroesNextDoor Most volunteers respond from their house to the station to the call. Having a duty crew at the station will minimize that time by removing the home to station.

[@theobscurity9392]

The orange is beautiful, very eye catching. Eleanor WV uses bright yellow, and South Charleston WV uses Black with an orange Z stripe. Great looking units

[@centredoorplugsthornton4112]

"Commuter and freight railroad." The commuter rail is Amtrak's Philadelphia-Harrisburg line.

[@patrickmcmahon7735]

Love the catch phrase "Solving all the worlds problems" lol.... Great video

[@Bobbyd0052]

INTEGRITY OVERLOAD ! PRIDE ! THANK YOU BROTHER MIKE ! CANT KEP A GOOD "MACK" DOWN ! LOVIN IT ! 🇺🇲

[@iamReddington]

If I had seen their fire trucks in a picture prior to watching this, I'd have said ew. but after watching and hearing about how it was a mistake that they then embraced, I'm all for it! It looks so odd, but it also seems to fit perfectly. Their station and rigs are amazingly beautiful.

[@BostonJonny82]

Super well kept station and immaculate apparatus! Lafayette is living the motto "Take care of those who take care of you" and if their dept softball/ bowling team is not call "The Tangerines"....

[@brianclassen5221]

Springfield, Oregon had Orange with blue striping for many years. Since they merged with Eugene I'm not sure. Eugene was red and white. I always like the combination. Thanks.

[@VOTEREPUBLICANS594]

Outstanding everything squared away

[@brandongaines1731]

I like how Mike describes having a "new challenge" as being "very good"! A busy mind is a more resilient mind :-)

[@chriswilson9230]

I’m a traditionalist, but I really like the color of their apparatus. Great house.

[@mysterymayhem7020]

you know its a busy house when the chief is walking and talking while sleeping (his eyes were closed) 13:33

[@BNSF_101]

33:44 This is a 2021 Pierce Enforcer, it is a uh, pumper. *Like I can't see that lol* still another great video from Heroes Next Door. Do more of these!

[@samuelwatson8043]

33:36 My favourite part. Got caught by Hero's Next Doors 😂😂

[@nrs135]

Manheim Township has blue trucks with white lettering, Green Fields at the Reading airport is green. The orange is unique, and it certainly stands out which isn't a bad thing if you're in some of the more rural parts of the county, even just for a parade.

[@gta5policeactivity898]

Green and yellow and white looks cool too

[@scottstewart3884]

That Orange does catch the eye for sure! Looks Great!

[@HeroesNextDoor]

It does!

[@ItsKing32]

that 8th gen Ford is beautiful

[@darkwood777]

The junior firefighter program sounds pretty awesome.

[@HightowerLSSD]

I volunteered at Maugansville MD Station 13 and they have orange equipment as well. About the same color as Lafayette's.

[@Everythingguy33]

Your new Mack Rescue is amazing!

[@chadnga8]

I live in Rome, Georgia, and since the early 1970s we have had YELLOW Fire Trucks. As a young child, I thought that was completely normal, until I noticed all the other cities around us had RED fire trucks. In recent years, we've gotten a few new liveries: Squad 1 is solid white. Squad 2 is Red. A couple of new engines are red, with white top on the cab. Our new ladder and quint trucks are red with black cab tops. I hate to see the YELLOW go, but it's also unique right now to have so many different liveries and colors on different apparatuses.

[@panzerfalcon550]

The department just outside of their first due actually used to have yellow trucks until they merged to become Manheim township fire rescue and they became blue

[@treeminutesorless5835]

Glad to hear you saying Lancaster the right way! Really good video

[@aidanmcgregor8789]

You should come on up here to Ottawa, Canada! I’m sure you’ll be very interested in our stations/trucks.

[@HeroesNextDoor]

We need the official invites to get you on the schedule. We are trying to get the the UP of Michigan sooner than later. How close are you to there ?

[@aidanmcgregor8789]

@@HeroesNextDoor Well we are quite far from there. Eastern Ontario. Wouldn’t really make sense to come here with no invite. It’s a big city department serving canadas capital, so I doubt they’d send an invite. I find Canadian fire and police departments aren’t very good with publicly and outreach.

[@HeroesNextDoor]

@@aidanmcgregor8789 well if you can get a station or two or three to send us an invite after you show them what we do. We will make the trip! Just need to work on the logistics 😉. We would love to come film and highlight your stuff for sure

[@Leotheconstructionguy]

That is crazy how clean and new that 1990 f350 looks wow 😮

[@BNSF_101]

Yeah true tbh.

[@marc-andrebenoit5776]

Here in New-Brunswick Canada. Most are red and white, red and black. But we have Yellow green'ish. But orange ? That is kinda cool! Love it

[@mikesaporitojr3313]

Got to love the bloopers real shows that not even Fire and Rescue gets it right the first time

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Sometimes there are a ton of bloopers others I tend to nail it. Luck of the draw

[@rsecord]

We love making fun of their orange Riggs! Sending love from York 67!

[@joemater9788]

couple of the fire/ems services in my state have been sporting orange for years....

[@Booger414]

Six Mile Run, PA also runs orange rigs. I am not a member, but I have a friend who is.

[@rtyndallnc]

I love the orange color. Buies Creek Fire Dept. (home to Campbell University) in North Carolina has a Orange Ladder truck.

[@jreese46]

Can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this.

[@sjones26573]

Man, that OBS is a gem. Remarkably clean considering it's older than me.

[@IG10705]

Not an OBS. OBS is 92 to 96. That's a bricknose. They are not called OBS.

[@MikeHarris1984]

In Glendale AZ Fire is Yellow trucks... cities around (Phx, Peoria, Deer Valley, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Buckeye, Goodyear, Queen Creeek, San Tan, Apache Junction, Scottsdale, etc.. ) are all red...

[@brandonzender3899]

My department has a black grass ring and red pumpers and tankers. My neighboring department Lake crystal MN. Is all orange. When done right it looks sharp.

[@donlyons3196]

SWEET STATION!!

[@HighwayLand]

Springfield, Oregon had orange/blue at one time, I am sure you can still find pics of the old rigs somewhere online. Springfield is now part of Eugene Fire, and now the rigs are black/red. Great video btw! I volunteer out here in Oregon, and I wish we had something like Lafayette.

[@brianclassen5221]

I stand corrected. I thought Eugene was red and white. Springfields rigs looked cool pre-merger. I retired from TVF&R in 2016 and we were American Lafrance red and white. Pierce provided most of the apparatus.

[@HighwayLand]

@@brianclassen5221 how many districts has TVF&R taken over anyway? We have 5 districts and 2 private fire departments out here in Josephine County, it would be nice if we could all just get together and become 1. Heck, Wolf Creek RFPD was shut down for a couple years because they didn't have any volunteers.

[@johnturk4041]

I was just down in that area for the past week. I love it down there!

[@NeilM01989]

Liked and shared 🧑🏻👍🏻

[@RayAllen1776]

Tables are amazing ❤️✝️🇺🇸

[@chrispolcino8584]

At newportville fire company in bucks county pa, we have white over orange trucks for decades. We just started to switch to dark gray over red.

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Send us official invites. That’s close we can make that happen sooner than later

[@justintarvid]

Actually really like the orange, fits well.

[@chillies4156]

Nice

[@Commissar0617]

i like the 1970s Gilson Snowblower. don't see too may around, but they're tanks!

[@JaCk3D3Y3]

very tight run ship up there, but I respect it, excellent your btw

[@johnlebzelter4208]

Ran there when I was in college for a little (at the old station), while I was with another FC.

[@Jackknife-TV]

We have some yellow and white fire engines out here in Schuylkill county PA.

[@noahbmx66879]

No but really cool ambulances we run out off the firehouse ACFD Virginia 104

[@Lucyblacklab]

Nice older trucks 👍

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Yes they are

[@mattgist9232]

Engine 632 (Pierce Enforcer) is gorgeous!

[@brandonshimer5002]

Holy beard

[@MMA10mm]

Baltimore, MD used to have white trucks with the lower rear compartments painted orange. Very eye-catching. I know the FAA and some other federal agency(s) did a study and found Lime-Green as most-visible with Orange as second most-visible. I suppose we could paint a truck in a checkerboard Lime-Green and Orange and make the ugliest high-vis apparatus ever! 😂

[@lsellclumanetsolarenergyll5071]

Very well done.... this is how tax dollars can give back to the Community. Well done guys.

[@JMetz-gw8oh]

Casually watching the video and see my station's hose rack picture...

[@curtmoneybags2504]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@benwatters9255]

Are you planning anymore visits to Michigan anytime soon we love to have you back in the great state of Michigan again

[@HeroesNextDoor]

We are working on another trip most likely to the U P. Where are you from?

[@benwatters9255]

@@HeroesNextDoor I’m a firefighter in Western Michigan I watch your channel all the time I like training portion of the video very well done thanks.

[@brokske69]

Hey, I live in Belgium (Europe) and I am also a volunteer firefighter in my village. our trucks used to be orange now they are red. is a political decision. the same trucks as much as possible across the entire country. they are also partly financed by the state.

[@shutupshawn74]

You should come to check us out on the Jersey side. We got smaller departments but a real sense of community. Perfect for a shorter video.

[@grandson_0623]

Yeah over here in central NJ we have a bunch of tiny departments. None the less cool equipment and nice houses. Maybe a video on three or so local departments.

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Send us the invite

[@jeremymyers5503]

Summerdale,PA (East Pennsboro twp) was orange and white up until there merger. Now I believe the whole township runs orange and black.

[@alexander_eckardtoffiziell8540]

in Germany we have a view older Trucks that Orange Paint but most of them are Red but they are still speciell for us !!^^

[@flokoe6460]

In switzerland we have only two colors to paint the apperatus red or yellow lime as basic and then daylight orange around. It pretends on the State (Kanton) which basic Color is used

[@briantilden9306]

We run orange trucks also due to a mistake that International Harvester made in 83 on our tanker. Poe Volunteer Fire Dept. We also run black and orange gear.

[@jimmymurray7638]

Lone Camp VFD rigs are green & yellow Lone Camp,Texas

[@EifelBlaulichtTV]

Awesome video and awesome chief. Is that a European Fire Helmet @ 4:08 in the bottom right corner of the showcase? It at least looks like one.

[@spenceryambrich3899]

"we have a firefighter, an amish kid"

[@gustavoselvanalvarez1356]

Buenos días les saludo desde puerto morelos quintana roo México soy paramedico rescatista voluntario estan super las unidades

[@charliespruck-cm2pq]

Sleepy Hollow, NY has Orange Trucks.

[@demolitioncampground9171]

My dad ran there when I was kid

[@mikemotter3685]

Have you done any departments in York County? Seems like you're going to get to every department in Lancaster Country before long. There's a good number of companies on the other side of the river

[@bgnfrky]

Wiconisco PA In northern Dauphin County has Orange trucks.

[@toddwilkening3830]

Love the set up, Does the guys with beards wear air packs or are they limited

[@IG10705]

They can still use the SCBAs. They still seal.

[@augu-ks3kl]

The danish emergency management agency (beredskabsstyrelsen) have orange trucks and they actually have a problem with people not moving to the side bc they don’t associate orange with an emergency vehicle

[@daniellongstaff6245]

For a future episode of heroes next door you should try the Wichita Fire Department in Wichita,KS

[@HeroesNextDoor]

We need an official invite from the stations to make that happen.

[@lonnyscott6231]

K.C.,Mo. once had lime green.

[@alex_1798]

Hey another of my local fire departments gotten tons of their trucks in photos

[@genehasenbuhler2594]

The city of Socorro in Texas has PINK fire trucks!😄

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Wow

[@ianh1989]

“Smurf Blue”! Westwood does have some distinct rigs!

[@Max-zo2vp]

I'm a german firefighter and i must say i am supriesed that the americans sort and equipt thier trucks like the european . for us it is normle to have the first truck with a tank for water a pump hoses and some technical rescue equiptment, most of the time the second truck here is a pumper. Just a water tank, pump hoses and some minor technical equipmant. the third would also be a ladder truck, but they look way different than thier usa or canadian counterparts (basicly like all of the trucks). thenn we also have our rescue trucks. it is really interesting to sea the simalaritys

[@Hal-Robinson]

It's like a mutual aid live-in program

[@true_shermanator1129]

Not sure how you decided on what you tour, but if you get a chance to come down near southern Va you should really check out Virginia Beach EMS which is the largest Volunteer systems in the nation

[@HeroesNextDoor]

We go by invites. Please have anyone who is interested send us an email to [e-mail]

[@adamsimmens35]

Hatzalah EMS in NYC is the largest volunteer service in the US with 2,000+ volunteers serving the area

[@true_shermanator1129]

@@adamsimmens35 except the difference is we are volunteer based, EMS in NYC supplements the paid staff

[@dyoung12b]

What is the yellow hose thing that the trucks are hooked up too?

[@williamfenner9915]

The city that I live used to have the lime/green trucks. Nowadays they are black over red trucks.

[@m1t2a1]

You need some of Walt McCall's books. 2:42

[@OldLordSpeedy]

Funny U.S. accent of this fire chief. Sounds different how I hear in news e.g. CNN.

[@Youtubeisstartingtosuck]

I can’t with the thumbnail💀

[@HeroesNextDoor]

😂🤣welcome to what KZbin likes. I’m not a fan but it gets people to check it out. Thanks for watching

[@charlesbowe5130]

My department has orange fire trucks

[@tomh3652]

I like the Orange what I dont like is the black over red like Chicago. It has spread like a wildfire like in my home state of NJ. Chicago can keep it.

[@zachpel1923]

Orleans MA paints everything yellow

[@Northernvirginiafirebuff428]

do you think you would ever head down to the outer banks and go to Duck Fire Department in the town of duck? I went there as I am a fire buff while I was staying down there for a little and they were really nice and let me take pictures.

[@HeroesNextDoor]

We have been there but never received an invite from Duck yet. Have them send us the invite and we will make it happen

[@Bowman2006]

You should do the other 3 company’s in the township

[@HeroesNextDoor]

We just need the invites to make that happen

[@alucide]

We have a volume slider, you don't have to shout.

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Sorry it comes across that way. Hard to meet everyone’s volume parameters. I am Italian and I’m load and use my hands a lot. I’ve worked on the hands issues and I’ll continue to work on my volume. Thank you for watching

[@J-Sebs]

When they say "volunteer" does that sometimes mean paid per call or is it completely unpaid. And if so, are the firefighters at that station just hanging out and making no money? Completely unpaid is so rare where I'm from, I'm just trying to understand how it works exactly.

[@HeroesNextDoor]

Yep completely free NO MONEY. The true definition of volunteer

[@marylandemergencyresponses]

most volunteer places are 100 volunteer but you get expensive and tax returns at the end of year either way there still volunteer not paid, like career staff

[@marylandemergencyresponses]

Everywhere it’s different but to horror your volunteers but volunteer companies offer that.

[@lynnqueen797]

Grapeville pa has purple trucks