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Posted: Feb 1, 2019

Rescue 1 Chosen for New Heavy Rescue

BY ALAN M. PETRILLO


The Getzville (NY) Volunteer Fire Company wanted to replace a 20-year-old stainless steel body rescue truck that didn’t have the room needed to carry added equipment, so the fire company put together a truck committee that researched what the firefighters liked about their current rescue as well as documented its shortcomings. The truck committee developed specifications and sent bid requests to seven rescue truck manufacturers. Rescue 1 was the winner of the bid.

Dan Demerle, past chief of Getzville, says he was cochair of the truck committee with then second assistant chief and now first assistant chief Dan Cownie. “We were replacing a 1997 Saulsbury/Spartan chassis stainless steel rescue that we had outgrown in terms of the equipment we needed to carry,” Demerle says. “The truck committee wanted to be sure that our new heavy rescue would suit our needs down the road for a 15- to 20-year period but also have room to be adaptable, because we don’t mind moving things around on our vehicles. With a custom rescue truck, we wanted to be able to adapt the various spaces for exactly what we wanted to put in a compartment.”

PREPARATION

Jack Bills, territory manager for Colden Enterprises, who sold the truck to Getzville, says, “The Getzville committee was one of the most prepared truck committees that I’ve ever worked with. They knew the kind of information that we would need to be able to work with them, they had identified the shortcomings of the rescue they were replacing, and they thought about what kind of changes could be made to fix those shortcomings.”

Rescue 1 built this heavy rescue truck for the Getzville (NY) Volunteer Fire Company on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and cab with seating for eight firefighters.

1 Rescue 1 built this heavy rescue truck for the Getzville (NY) Volunteer Fire Company on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and cab with seating for eight firefighters. (Photos courtesy of Rescue 1.)

The truck has a wheelbase of 243 inches, an overall length of 38 feet 8 inches, and an overall height of 11 feet

2 The truck has a wheelbase of 243 inches, an overall length of 38 feet 8 inches, and an overall height of 11 feet.

The Getzville rig has a 22-foot 4-inch aluminum heavy-duty walk-around body with a ladder at the rear to access topside coffin compartments

3 The Getzville rig has a 22-foot 4

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Posted: Feb 1, 2019

Rescue 1 Chosen for New Heavy Rescue

BY ALAN M. PETRILLO


The Getzville (NY) Volunteer Fire Company wanted to replace a 20-year-old stainless steel body rescue truck that didn’t have the room needed to carry added equipment, so the fire company put together a truck committee that researched what the firefighters liked about their current rescue as well as documented its shortcomings. The truck committee developed specifications and sent bid requests to seven rescue truck manufacturers. Rescue 1 was the winner of the bid.

Dan Demerle, past chief of Getzville, says he was cochair of the truck committee with then second assistant chief and now first assistant chief Dan Cownie. “We were replacing a 1997 Saulsbury/Spartan chassis stainless steel rescue that we had outgrown in terms of the equipment we needed to carry,” Demerle says. “The truck committee wanted to be sure that our new heavy rescue would suit our needs down the road for a 15- to 20-year period but also have room to be adaptable, because we don’t mind moving things around on our vehicles. With a custom rescue truck, we wanted to be able to adapt the various spaces for exactly what we wanted to put in a compartment.”

PREPARATION

Jack Bills, territory manager for Colden Enterprises, who sold the truck to Getzville, says, “The Getzville committee was one of the most prepared truck committees that I’ve ever worked with. They knew the kind of information that we would need to be able to work with them, they had identified the shortcomings of the rescue they were replacing, and they thought about what kind of changes could be made to fix those shortcomings.”

Rescue 1 built this heavy rescue truck for the Getzville (NY) Volunteer Fire Company on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and cab with seating for eight firefighters.

1 Rescue 1 built this heavy rescue truck for the Getzville (NY) Volunteer Fire Company on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and cab with seating for eight firefighters. (Photos courtesy of Rescue 1.)

The truck has a wheelbase of 243 inches, an overall length of 38 feet 8 inches, and an overall height of 11 feet

2 The truck has a wheelbase of 243 inches, an overall length of 38 feet 8 inches, and an overall height of 11 feet.

The Getzville rig has a 22-foot 4-inch aluminum heavy-duty walk-around body with a ladder at the rear to access topside coffin compartments

3 The Getzville rig has a 22-foot 4

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Posted: Feb 1, 2019

Interpreting TIC Images

Manfred Kihn

As firefighters, we train in all aspects of our job, but we face challenges because we use so many different types of equipment depending on what our duties are. We need to be proficient in using all of them. Why is this month’s topic important? We use thermal imaging cameras (TICs) to help us see where we are going, but what is it that we are really looking at? How are we interpreting the images we are seeing on the TIC?

Carl Nix

Image interpretation is one of the most critical skills a firefighter needs to develop to successfully use a TIC. Firefighters need to be able to glance at the TIC display and understand the image being shown. This is a learned skill that comes with understanding the technology of thermal imaging coupled with practical experience in the field.

Let’s look at a scenario. You are responding to a structure fire call and your crew arrives on the scene to see smoke coming from the building. The crew begins pulling and charging attack lines, and you grab the TIC and do a quick 360° of the structure. The question is, are you interpreting what you are seeing on the TIC’s display correctly? Every structure will demonstrate at least four different but totally normal images on a TIC based on many factors including day vs. night and winter vs. summer conditions. A mobile home, for example, will look different than a masonry structure. A wood-frame-sided home will look different than a steel structure.

Windows will also impact the information your TIC tells you based on single-, double-, or triple-pane designs. Window treatments if covering the window can impact image information as well. Older and poorly designed windows and doors can exhibit thermal images that could easily mislead you as to the real heat value of the structure without a normal image baseline.

When our naked eye sees things, our brain computes it and we understand it, but when we see images through the display lens of a TIC, we now must try to understand what we are looking at. Some heat signatures or anomalies will be obvious, but other images we will not understand. If we detect something and can recognize and understand it, then we move on; but if we detect something, cannot recognize it, and cannot understand it, then we must investigate it.

Photos courtesy of Bullard.

1 Photos courtesy of Bullard.

Photos courtesy of Bullard.
Photos courtesy of Bullard.
Photos courtesy of Bullard.
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Posted: Feb 1, 2019

Interpreting TIC Images

Manfred Kihn

As firefighters, we train in all aspects of our job, but we face challenges because we use so many different types of equipment depending on what our duties are. We need to be proficient in using all of them. Why is this month’s topic important? We use thermal imaging cameras (TICs) to help us see where we are going, but what is it that we are really looking at? How are we interpreting the images we are seeing on the TIC?

Carl Nix

Image interpretation is one of the most critical skills a firefighter needs to develop to successfully use a TIC. Firefighters need to be able to glance at the TIC display and understand the image being shown. This is a learned skill that comes with understanding the technology of thermal imaging coupled with practical experience in the field.

Let’s look at a scenario. You are responding to a structure fire call and your crew arrives on the scene to see smoke coming from the building. The crew begins pulling and charging attack lines, and you grab the TIC and do a quick 360° of the structure. The question is, are you interpreting what you are seeing on the TIC’s display correctly? Every structure will demonstrate at least four different but totally normal images on a TIC based on many factors including day vs. night and winter vs. summer conditions. A mobile home, for example, will look different than a masonry structure. A wood-frame-sided home will look different than a steel structure.

Windows will also impact the information your TIC tells you based on single-, double-, or triple-pane designs. Window treatments if covering the window can impact image information as well. Older and poorly designed windows and doors can exhibit thermal images that could easily mislead you as to the real heat value of the structure without a normal image baseline.

When our naked eye sees things, our brain computes it and we understand it, but when we see images through the display lens of a TIC, we now must try to understand what we are looking at. Some heat signatures or anomalies will be obvious, but other images we will not understand. If we detect something and can recognize and understand it, then we move on; but if we detect something, cannot recognize it, and cannot understand it, then we must investigate it.

Photos courtesy of Bullard.

1 Photos courtesy of Bullard.

Photos courtesy of Bullard.
Photos courtesy of Bullard.
Photos courtesy of Bullard.
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Posted: Feb 1, 2019

Fire Truck Rollovers, Part 2

BY CHRIS DALY


In last month’s article, we discussed how to determine a vehicle’s rollover threshold. Once a vehicle’s rollover threshold is calculated, it is possible to determine at what point it will roll over.

The point at which the apparatus will roll over depends on how much lateral acceleration is placed on the vehicle. Lateral acceleration is the evil force that is constantly trying to “push” the apparatus off of the road or flip it over.

When a vehicle moves from side to side, it will experience “lateral acceleration,” commonly referred to as “g-force.” While lateral g-force sounds like a complicated term, it is actually quite simple. Not only is this concept very simple, it is a key point that every fire apparatus operator must come to understand if he plans to drive safely. Unfortunately, few emergency vehicle operation course (EVOC) programs discuss it.

The amount of g-force a vehicle will experience as it rounds a curve will depend on the speed of the vehicle and the radius of the curve (how sharp it is). If the vehicle’s speed increases, or the curve gets sharper, the lateral g-force acting on the vehicle will increase. If a vehicle experiences a lateral g-force that is greater than its rollover threshold, the vehicle will roll over. Lateral g-force is calculated using the following formula:

Formula One

REAL-LIFE G-FORCE

By using the lateral g-force formula, it is possible to determine how much lateral g-force is acting on a vehicle as it rounds a curve. As an example, consider the curve in photo 1, which has a radius of 80 feet along the middle of the inside travel lane. The amount of lateral g-force experienced by a vehicle while rounding the inside travel lane is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 demonstrates how dangerous it is to round a sharp curve or corner in a fire apparatus. As most fire apparatus have an average rollover threshold over around 0.60 (give or take, no manufacturer will give me exact measurements), the average fire apparatus will roll over while rounding this curve at just 25 to 30 miles per hour (mph). Keep in mind that at 30 mph, the fire apparatus operator will be driving the vehicle at 100 percent of its ability. In reality, most drivers “give up” and panic when the lateral g-force exceeds 0.20.

Table One

he measured radius of the inside lane of this curve is approximately 80 feet. This would be considered a “sharp” curve to most drivers. When a curve has a smaller radius (is sharper), the lateral g-force increases significantly with an increase in speed.

1 The measured radius of the inside lane of this curve is approximately 80 feet. This would be considered a “sharp” curve to most drivers. When a curve has a smaller radius (is sharper), the lateral g-force increases significantly with an increase in speed. (Photos by author.)

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