Foam use in the fire service varies from department to department and what is being protected. In recent years, the fire service has transitioned from fluorinated foams, like aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) to fluorine-free foams, also known as F3. A lot goes into creating effective foams, and one company that produces them, Perimeter Solutions, not only has five chemists that are constantly creating new formulations but also has a robust testing center on its Green Bay, Wisconsin, campus and education program for the fire service.

HISTORY

Perimeter Solutions is the fire safety industry’s only full service solutions provider offering products, equipment, personnel, logistics and service, according to Mark Siem, manager of business development/chemist at the company.

The company’s roots go back to 1963 when PHOS-CHEK retardants were first introduced. Then in the 1980s, PHOS-CHEK WD881 was the first Class A foam on the US Forest Service’s qualified products list. That company started as part of Monsanto. From the late 1990s until 2021 it went through a series of acquisitions and became a public company in 2021. Between the 1960s and 2021, there were a number of changes in ownership, but also a number of acquisitions that broadened what the company could offer, with one of those acquisitions being the SOLBERG foam concentrate business in 2018. The combination of these acquisitions created what is now known as Perimeter Solutions and preceded another series of acquisitions that increased the company’s offerings.

There are three different groups that make up Perimeter Solutions that are run individually: suppressants, retardants, and specialty chemicals. The retardant products go by PHOS-CHEK, and firefighting foams use SOLBERG as the brand name. SOLBERG has a long history of firefighting Class B foams, and it started making fluorine-free foams in the early 2000s.

RESEARCH CAPABILITIES

Perimeter Solutions provides research and development capabilities that include an onsite test center that will test various foam formulations develo

APPLETON, Wisconsin (November 12, 2025) – Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) business, today announced the Columbus Division of Fire in Columbus, Ohio, has placed an order for two Pierce Ascendant^® 107’ Heavy-Duty Tiller Aerial Ladders and two Pierce Enforcer™ Pumpers. The order, secured through Pierce dealer Atlantic Emergency Solutions, emphasizes the department’s dedication to equipping its crews with fire apparatus tailored for high call volume and diverse emergency response needs across the city.

The Columbus Division of Fire operates 34 fire stations and serves nearly 906,000 residents within the city’s boundaries, spanning more than 220 square miles. With approximately 1,700 uniformed personnel supported by civilian staff, the department provides both fire protection and EMS services in one of the nation’s busiest metropolitan areas.

“Reliability and operational consistency are critical for a department of Columbus’ size,” said Dave Reichman, regional vice president of sales for Atlantic Emergency Solutions. “The new apparatus are designed to perform under pressure, with features directly supporting firefighters’ safety and efficiency on scene. The Ascendant Tillers and Enforcer Pumpers will provide the visibility, maneuverability, and functionality needed to serve Columbus residents effectively.”

Columbus has exclusively relied on Pierce Tillers since 2012, with each unit customized to meet the city’s unique specifications. For this order, consistency and customization were key factors in choosing Pierce tillers, while the Enforcer Pumpers offered quality assurances, availability, and cost-effectiveness through Pierce’s Build My Pierce™(BMP™) Program, which allowed for expedited delivery timelines.

The four apparatus include:

Two (2) Pierce Ascendant 107’ Heavy-Duty Tiller Aerial Ladders

• Enforcer custom chassis with Cummins X12 engine
• TAK-4^® tiller axle
• Tandem-rear axle chassis for improved stability, braking, and traction
• Steel ladder construction offering 107’ of vertical reach
• Highly customized trailer compartmentation to meet department specifications
• Wireless remote aerial control system for enhanced flexibility

Two (2) Pierce Enforcer Pumpers

• Enforcer custom chassis with Cummins L9 engine
• TAK-4 Independent Front Suspension
• 1,500 gpm pump
• 750-gallon water tank
• 152” body with extensive compartmentation and low hosebed design

Reichman added, “The apparatus are designed to meet the demands of a large metropolitan city with a very high call volume. The tillers provide fast aerial setup, quick control movement, and superb visibility, while the pumpers feature thoughtful compartmentation and low hosebeds to maximize efficiency. We appreciate the opportunity to continue supporting the department with apparatus engineered for reliability, safety, and operational excellence.”

For more information on Pierce’s Ascendant Aerial Ladders, Enforcer Pumpers, and other innovative fire apparatus, visit www.piercemfg.com for specs, videos, and images.

About Pierce Manufacturing

Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation [NYSE: OSK] business, is the leading North American manufacturer of custom fire a

Editor’s Opinion | Chris Mc Loone

It’s hard to believe we are in November already. To be honest, I’m already looking beyond Thanksgiving to Christmas.

On Thanksgiving morning, I’ll be watching Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and, after dinner, it will be National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation—with a very healthy amount of football watching in between. Next month is usually dedicated to looking toward the future, in this case 2026. So, I’ll take the opportunity this month to take a look back at 2025.

This has been probably the oddest year for this brand since I started covering the fire apparatus and equipment market here. Never before have I seen the dedication of apparatus and equipment manufacturers to keeping firefighters safe questioned. And, it has been done so publicly. Collusion—that’s a word that has been bandied about in recent months. I am at the “I can’t believe they’re serious” stage at this point.

It troubles me when individuals are called to appear before a committee, seemingly to provide information on why things are the way they are, only to be constantly interrupted and not really given the opportunity to explain the factors that have gotten us to this point. That makes me question why the hearing was called to begin with.

So, it’s been a rough year trying to navigate all this and to find the answers we’re looking for. Along the way though, and possibly lost amidst all the noise this year, there has been positive news. For example, Spartan, Wheeled Coach, and EVI are all celebrating 50th anniversaries in 2025. Spartan Emergency Response announced a multimillion-dollar expansion at its Brandon, South Dakota, facility. Pierce has added nearly 500,000 square feet of new facility space across locations to increase its capacity. So, there has been good news this year.

I recently returned from the 2025 Fire Truck Training Conference. Attending this event allows me to meet some of the people who keep our fleets up and running. The EVTs come from far and wide to attend the conference, originally conceived by Bill Foster, who we sadly lost in January of this year. As soon as I walked into the main hall, it was impossible to miss “Ol’ No. 1,” Spartan’s first chassis, which featured an FMC cab. The conference usually has a few cabs/chassis without bodies that students will use to learn about various mechanical systems on fire apparatus. Seeing them always brings to mind images of Bill arriving at my fire company with just the cab/chassis to talk to us about Spartan’s latest offerings.

Every year, the conference brings people from all over the country and Canada together. Although many are, not all of these EVTs are firefighters. But every one of them considers himself part of saving lives. They know they can’t have a bad day at the office. And, as Al Conkle, this year’s recipient of the William F. Foster Outstanding Service Award, said, “You folks make this industry safer.”

What really struck me in some of my conversations was the ground some of these shops cover. They are repairing rigs that are hours away from the shop. The ages of many of the fleets are also impressive. And, that is not a commentary on what’s happening today. These departments just don’t have the budget to upgrade fleets that feature rigs from the 1980s and early 1990s. One EVT remarked, “They’re in great shape. They run great. They’re just old.”

Of course, it is November, and with it being the month of Thanksgiving, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention some things I’ve been thankful for during this year. At the top of the list are ou

Shaniece Holmes-Brown
The Hour, Norwalk, Conn.
(TNS)

Nov. 11—RIDGEFIELD — Ridgefield’s proposed $77.4 million public safety building failed its referendum vote for the second time this year.

The project received 4,978 “no” votes and 3,137 “yes” votes during last week’s election, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of the State’s office.

“I was not surprised,” said resident Eric Scheck, who has lived in Ridgefield for roughly 25 years.

Scheck said Wednesday afternoon he still has questions about the project that need to be answered before voting in favor of it and he has issues with its cost, size and location.

“It just was shocking to me that after seven years of discussion and design and redesign, the plan was still not fully baked,” Scheck said. “It’s almost like, ‘Let’s get a really shiny object and sell it, and then we’ll figure out all the details later.’ “

The project failed a referendum vote in February when it initially cost $85.6 million. It lost by just 71 votes.

First Selectperson Rudy Marconi previously said he heard residents’ concerns after the first vote and made changes to the project, including reducing the square footage and cost of the site work, which made it $8 million cheaper.

Marconi did not respond to requests for comment about the latest vote.

The 75,000-square-foot facility would combine police, fire, emergency medical services staff into one facility. Marconi previously said both the police station and the fire station are more than 100 years old and are in a state of disrepair.

Scheck said he doesn’t understand why fire and police should share one big building, instead of having two smaller buildings.

“If you put these guys together, what are you going to do with the existing properties? Well, clearly they’re not going to sell them,” Scheck said.

The project’s website listed some of the reasons for combining the buildings, including reducing square footage costs; saving a set of HVAC, fire suppression and electrical systems; and future savings.

Scheck said he also worries about the burden the project could have on taxpayers.

“We’re not Norwalk, we’re not Wilton, we’re not Danbury — we’re Ridgefield. We’re a population of 25,000 people,” he said. “So, when we get these big ambitions, and it’s going to be fully bonded on the town, guess whose shoulders it rides on? It doesn’t ride on corporate here, because we don’t have a big tax base.”

Scheck said he’s still hoping the project could be revived and approved if the town were to try again. He said the first step is to put together a new team of unbiased people to examine the work that’s been done and figure out how to make the project better for everyone.

“I think everybody agrees it needs to be done, but maybe it’s his time to get a fresh set of eyes on it,” he said.

Longtime resident Chuck Hancock, 86, agreed that the town should put together a group or meeting of residents, firefighters and police officers to give feedback on the project and make changes.

He said Thursday afternoon that the vote was “truly reflective of how the population felt.”

“We recognize (we’ve) got to do something, but we can do better than this,” he said.

He said the goal of the project should be to help law enforcement and first responders better protect the residents.

Hancock said he voted against it and hoped it would be defeated. And now he said voters like himself who criticized the project are accountable for findi

Wearable technology is making itself known across the fire service, helping enhance firefighter safety, improving operational efficiency, and offering real-time health monitoring.

The types of wearables available to fire departments can monitor an array of firefighter biometrics and provide location tracking with data going to an incident commander’s (IC’s) phone, tablet, or laptop.

Paul Couston, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ascent Integrated Tech, says his company’s ShieldPortal™, ShieldModule™, and BioCom™ modules, part of its Shield platform, allow the platform to track firefighters on a fire scene and in a multiple-story building along the X, Y, and Z axes as well as providing firefighter biometric data in real time for ICs.

Couston points out that the Shield platform’s mapping function gives simultaneous localization in real time, using 12 points of data in mapping the environment, including GPS, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), accelerometers, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and pressure sensors, while the BioCom module provides health and environmental alerts to the IC, including each firefighter’s heart rate, body temperature, and any hazardous gases present.

He says that after Ascent conducted trials with several fire departments during the past year, it is now focusing its research and development on its WearTAK wearable app module and a wearable like a smartwatch instead of a previous end-user device that’s about the size of a cell phone and goes in a firefighter’s turnout pocket. “We’ve found that the Samsung watch is the most relevant from a public safety perspective,” Couston explains, “because it’s cost effective and its geo stacks (linked data for geographic relevance) and physiological data are great.”

Another benefit of the Samsung watch, he notes, is that it allows Ascent to get away from one-to-one pairing of devices and launch the units on an enterprise level. “For example, four units can be deployed on the four firefighters on an engine, and a battalion chief or incident commander might see that the firefighter in seat two has been having an extremely high heart rate, which might call for some type of intervention,” he says, “while also monitoring firefighters in other seats.”

The smartwatches that use the Ascent app transmit their data to a Team Awareness Kit (TAK) network, like a network originally developed for the United States military, Couston points out. “The data streams firefighter latitude, longitude, heart rate, oxygen saturation, temperature, exertion, and other information and will alert for either high or low heart rate and also for a Mayday.” He notes the current models get about 14 hours of continuous use before needing a charge. It takes about an hour to get to a full charge.

Dale Rolfson, battalion chief and chief technology officer for the Indianapolis (IN) Fire Department (IFD), says that while partnered with Indiana University’s RedLab, the IFD was part of the First Responder Smart Tracking (FRST) challenge to locate first responders in the X, Y, and Z axes, using Ascent Integrated Tech’s wearable devices and many competing devices. “Ascent transitions from a phone device to a wearable on the wrist and built in the ability to track biometrics,” Rolfson says. “We are currently testing eight Android-based cell phones and 10 Ascent biometric watches that all have plug-ins for civTAK and have been doing research on tracking for two years and biometrics for one year.”

Rolfson notes the department created digital models of its headquarters station, Station 7, and the training academy tower and burn building to use as a test bed. “We’ve used the technology mostly for location tracking at large-scale events,” he says, “which allows us to locate resources and direct the closest unit to any type of incident. On the biometrics, we started with tracking heart rate. But, with the new software w