By Alan M. Petrillo

Manufacturers of fire equipment, from those making nozzles and monitors to fire pumps and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), are incorporating more technology into their products than ever before. Manufacturers explain how technology makes their products more reliable and easier to use for firefighters.

Task Force Tips

Task Force Tips (TFT) has used technology to develop a grouping of products that are related to flow and pressure measurements in hose handlines. “The challenge for years is knowing what you’re actually flowing,” says Phil Gerace, TFT’s director of marketing. “Firefighters have used pocket cards that had formulas to calculate friction loss in hoses and nozzles, but those old measurements are less accurate as to what’s really going on.”

Gerace continues, “So TFT introduced the Bluetooth flow meter and flow gauge, SHO-FLOW® and SHO-GAUGE®, to help firefighters understand what’s actually flowing at the nozzle; to set up pump discharge pressures; to measure nozzle reaction; and, by using hose and nozzle data, to reflect real-time flows and pressures. They also can be used in testing, truck setup, and training scenarios. SHO-FLOW has versions that work with 1-inch handlines up to monitors.”

TFT also has used technology in its CrewProtect™ air decontamination and filter system. “CrewProtect is developed specifically for fire apparatus,” Gerace observes. “It uses integrated cartridge technology proven by NASA, Intel, and hospitals and laboratories around the country. CrewProtect, which comes in sizes for full-sized fire apparatus as well as wildland rigs, chief’s vehicles, and ambulances, traps and neutralizes particulates, volatile organic compounds, and aerosols and turns them into something that is not harmful. The cartridge should be changed twice a year and can be disposed of in the trash because it is nonhazardous material. CrewProtect can be installed new or retrofitted to existing fire vehicles.”

3M™ Scott™ Fire & Safety

3M Scott Fire & Safety has used technology to develop its telemetry system for its series of 3M™ Scott™ Air-Pak™ SCBA, taking advantage of a wireless mesh network that sends information to an incident commander (IC) about SCBA status, how much air pressure is left, if it is in low-air alarm, if the firefighter has stopped moving through its integration with the PASS alarm, and whether air is flowing. The system also allows an IC to issue a Personal Accountability Report (PAR) without doing so over radio traffic.

Technology also allowed 3M Scott to develop Sight, an in-

Alexis—Dorr Township (MI) Fire Department tanker. Freightliner 114SD cab and chassis; Cummins L9 450-hp engine; Waterous CXVPA 1,250-gpm PTO pump; 3,000-gallon polypropylene water tank; 3,000-gallon Fol-Da-Tank portable water tank; Newton 10-inch stainless steel swivel dump valve with 36-inch extension. Dealer: Josh Mausolf, Allied Fire Sales, Spring Lake, MI.

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The city of Portland (ME) announced October 14 that its fire department had added two new engines and one new ladder truck.

All three new fire trucks are 2022 Pierce Enforcers with a 15-to-20 year life expectancy. The engines cost $710,000 each. The ladder truck cost $1.2 million.

“These three new fire trucks are so important to our ability to respond to the volume of calls we receive,” said Chief Keith Gautreau in a press release. “This year we’re on track to answer 18,000 calls for service, which is a 20 percent increase from the previous calendar year.”

A new multimillion-dollar fire station in Seymour (IN) is expected to cut down substantially on response times, WDRB.com reported. 

Seymour Fire Chief Brad Lucas told WDRB that Fire Station 2’s new location at 1019 West Second Street will make all the difference.

Lucas is preparing to show off the city’s new $5.75 million fire station which broke ground nearly one year ago but has been needed for more than a decade, the report said.

The nearly 17,000-square-foot building has several conference rooms as well as rooms where firefighters can relax in between calls, according to the report.

The former station, which is less than a fourth of the size of the new station, is less than a mile away and will be repurposed by the city, the report said. 

On November 1, community and state leaders unveiled a valuable asset to the Hanceville Fire Department: a new truck to be used for medical response in Cullman County’s growing municipality, CullmanTribune.com reported.

The truck, equipped with an automatic chest compression machine and other critical medical equipment, was provided thanks to funds from the Tyson Foods settlement, the report said. 

The Tyson Foods facility in Hanceville in 2019 discharged illegal wastewater into the Black Warrior River resulting in its damaged ecosystem and fish kills numbering approximately 175,000, the report said. A lawsuit on behalf of the State of Alabama was filed against Tyson for violation of the Alabama Water Pollution Control Act and the Environmental Management Act. 

After the $3 million settlement for one of the largest fish kills in the state, the Restitution Fund Oversight Committee was formed, which is tasked with project selection and oversight for the settlement. Criteria for funds include projects which provide recreational opportunities, highlight the state’s natural resources and benefit the impacted areas’ public and environment health.