Brandon Clark
Daily Gazette, Sterling, Ill.
(TNS)

Oct. 9—STERLING — The Sterling City Council listened in shock Monday night as interim Sterling Fire Chief Forrest Reeder presented a sobering report on the state of the fire department’s apparatus and vehicles.

Over the past four years, the department has spent over $400,000 trying to fix several of its vehicles with “severe operational issues,” Reeder told the council during his report at the end of Monday night’s council meeting. To make matters worse, Reeder said, the vehicles experiencing the majority of these problems are arguably some of the most important in the fleet, Truck/Tower 4 and Engines 3 and 5.

SFD has 14 vehicles currently in its fleet, ranging from fire engines and trucks to special-operations trailers and special-use vehicles. Some vehicles are commonly used on calls, while others are reserved for support purposes when needed.

Typically, fire engines carry the water, pump and hose needed to extinguish fires, while firetrucks provide aerial ladders needed to access tall buildings and perform rescues. According to Reeder’s report, SFD only has three fire engines, and one fire truck with an aerial ladder, Truck/Tower 4.

“Truck 4 has been out of service for 10 months,” Reeder said. “Since that particular apparatus has been purchased by the city, it’s been in service less than 100 days in the less than three years that we’ve had it. During that time, it has never been NFPA [National Fire Protection Association] certified for applicable use. The few times that we did use it, it was a roll of the dice in terms of operational risk issues.”

Reeder said the department has spent over $200,000, or just over two-thirds of the original purchase price, on repairs for Truck/Tower 4. Additionally, the department has also spent nearly two-thirds the original purchase price of Engines 3 and 5 trying to maintain and fix them.

Engine 2 is the department’s newest and most reliable engine. Reeder said this means it goes out on nearly every call, accelerating the normal rate of wear and tear on the vehicle.

“We can expect an ongoing series of issues to start to emerge with that,” Reeder said. “It certainly isn’t by any abuse by our staff. The guys take great care of this apparatus, but they are rolling earthquakes as they go down the street.”

Reeder is concerned that as the miles start to take their toll on the overly used Engine 2, a major repair could leave the department in dire straights considering the poor condition of its reserve vehicles. He said Engine 2 currently has a backlog of warranty work that needs to be done, but he is afraid to take it off the streets because he cannot count on the reliability of those reserve units.

“If we drop one rig out of service, we are literally out of additional apparatus,” Reeder said. “That demonstrated itself to us last week at a structure fire we had on the 5th. We didn’t have any available suppression units for backup of our people coming in from off duty to respond to that incident or additional incidents that we have.”

Reeder said the department was forced to improvise during that structure fire.

“Unfortunately, we had to have three of our firefighters pile into the back of a pickup,” Reeder said. “They didn’t have air bags. They didn’t have any suppression equipment with them. It was great that we had them available at the fire scene, but it would have allowed us to do more things had we had an engine for them.”

Another problem is SFD cannot take its apparatus to one single vendor to be repaired. Truck/Tower 4 and Engines 3 and 5 are manufactured by KME Fire Apparatus, which does not have a recognized

The Olive Branch Fire Department recently took delivery of three apparatus to add to its fleet of emergency response vehicles.

Truck 3 is a 100-foot mid-mount Pierce Ascendant platform built on an Enforcer chassis. Truck 3 will replace Truck 1 at Station 3 on Hacks Cross Road.

Unit 3 is a 2024 Demers Ambulance built on a four-wheel-drive Ford F-450 chassis. Unit 3 will replace our existing Unit 3 at Station 3.

Truck 3 and Unit 3 were delivered to the Olive Branch Fire Department by Emergency Equipment Professionals in Horn Lake, Mississippi.

Battalion 1 is a 2024 Ford F-150. This vehicle will replace the current Battalion Chief’s vehicle located at Station 2 on Craft Road. This vehicle was delivered by Homer Skelton Ford in Olive Branch.

Ken Adams, Olive Branch Mayor helped us demonstrate Truck 3’s aerial capabilities yesterday at Olive Branch City Park. We thank the City of Olive Branch – Government, the Mayor, and the Board of Aldermen for approving these purchases. Most of all, we would like to thank the citizens of Olive Branch for this purchase. It is your tax dollars at work, and it is to you that these vehicles will serve.

By Kirk McKinzie and Kevin Sofen

In the rapidly evolving landscape of emergency services, integrating advanced technological solutions stands at the forefront of transforming operations and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of fire, rescue, and emergency medical service (EMS) teams.

As we advance, the focus on developing mobile infrastructure through specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely (SMART) apparatus and chief officer rigs, aka “buggies” equipped with high-speed data connectivity, has never been more critical. This article explores these innovative rigs’ pivotal role in modernizing public safety operations, highlighting the benefits of integrating compatible technology partners into emergency response frameworks. Moore’s law has proven true again to enable a small and affordable technology footprint that provides resilient data connectivity.

Emerging Trends in Emergency Response

The need for resilient, advanced mobile infrastructure is becoming increasingly apparent. Integrating interconnected technologies, cyber-physical systems, and high-speed connectivity into vehicles offers a revolutionary approach to managing incidents. These rigs serve as mobile command centers, enabling real-time data sharing, analysis, and decision-making in critical situations. The systems of systems approach can now provide network blending across previously siloed LTE networks to create a single IP address that combines the best of each network and satellite connectivity when LTE is unavailable. Mesh-networked systems can take data connectivity from the command vehicle and extend Internet- protocol-enabled systems for updated voice communications.

The Need for Advanced Mobile Infrastructure

The foundation of these advanced mobile command units is the ability to offer seamless, high-speed data connectivity. Failover and fail- back—processes where a system automatically switches to a backup network during a failure and then reverts to the primary network once restored—must be carefully managed. Failover failback between different networks at the wrong time during an incident can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Ensuring redundant and resilient self-healing alternative communications is critical to avoid failover failback. This connectivity is crucial for real-time information exchange, from live video feeds for enhanced situational awareness to remote sensing and space imaging. Integrating cutting-edge technologies like Quantum at the Edge and bidirectional data flow enhances the onboard router’s functionality, preventing failover and fail- back issues. Additionally, these rigs evolve into critical components within mesh networks, ensuring robust and reliable communication channels bolstered by edge and cloud computing capabilities.

Benefits of High-Speed Connectivity in Public Safety

High-speed connectivity facilitates operational efficiencies, including deploying virtual assistants to streamline processes, Internet of Things (IoT) enabled incident reporting, and live video analytics access for comprehensive situational awareness. This level of connectivity ensures that incident commanders (ICs) have access to the communication systems for more relevant data, enabling them to make informed decisions swiftly. For example, ICs in areas that once experienced a loss of connectivity can reliably deploy their drone operations and stream the video, audio, and remote sensing data feeds to relevant stakeholders in real time.

The Role of Technology in Modern Incident Management

Integrating advanced communication systems into these mobile rigs transforms traditional response strategies. With the advent of GPS, 5G+, and LTE technologies, emergency vehicles are now equipped with constant connectivity, expanding their operational

Richard Tribou
Orlando Sentinel
(TNS)

Hurricane Milton remained a “catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane overnight Wednesday, forecast to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast close to midnight still as a major Category 4 hurricane with “devastating” 130 mph winds and 15-foot surge, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“Damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge, and heavy rainfall will extend well outside the forecast cone,” forecasters said. “This is a very serious situation and residents in Florida should closely follow orders from their local emergency management officials.”

As of the NHC’s 5 a.m. advisory, the center of Milton was located about 300 miles southwest of Tampa moving northeast at 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph keeping it a Category 5 hurricane.

The storm’s center is compact for now with hurricane-force winds extending out 30 miles, but tropical-storm force winds have been expanding since Tuesday now out to 145 miles from its center.

“The global models agree that vertical wind shear is expected begin to increase over Milton later today, and that should cause some weakening,” the NHC stated. “However, there is high confidence that Milton will remain a very dangerous hurricane when it reaches Florida, and maintain hurricane status as it moves across the state.”

The forecast track’s cone of uncertainty ranges from Port Charlotte to the south and Clearwater to the north, with a potential center moving near Sarasota south of Tampa Bay moving inland by 2 a.m. Thursday with 130 mph sustained winds and 160 mph gusts.

“Users are urged not to focus on the exact landfall point as the average error at 24 hours is about 40 miles,” the NHS stated.

It’s then forecast to shift to an east-northeast path across the state going across southern Polk, Osceola and Brevard counties exiting into the Atlantic still as a Category 1 hurricane near Melbourne with 80 mph sustained winds and 100 mph gusts.

“Milton’s wind field is expected to grow considerably in size while it moves across Florida,” forecasters said. “Additionally, a large region of tropical storm and hurricane-force winds could occur on the northwest/back side of the storm since Milton will be interacting with a frontal boundary and beginning extratropical transition.”

Conditions in South Florida have already begun to deteriorate as an area of heavy rain ahead of the hurricane is beginning to spread across the peninsula.

“Several tornadoes are likely today and tonight across parts of central and southern Florida,” forecasters said.

Millions were ordered to evacuate and the state’s highways have been clogged and residents faced stations without fuel. Mandatory evacuation orders for barrier islands, mobile homes and low-lying areas were issued across 11 counties with a combined population of 5.9 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The powerful hurricane surged Monday into a monster Category 5 storm with 180 mph winds in the Gulf of Mexico, then lost some steam overnight as it moved over the waters just north of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, falling to 145 mph winds earlier Tuesday. But then it climbed back hitting 165 mph winds in the even

The City of Vineland Fire Department, Mayor Anthony Fanucci, and members of the city council invite the public to attend the Official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new Vineland Fire Department Headquarters and Station No. 6 at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, the city said in a Facebook post recently.

The station is located at 400 West Plum Street. The $20 million project was completed under budget and ahead of schedule. Guided tours of the new 38,000-square-foot, two-story building will be available following the ceremony.

Incorporating state-of-the-art technology and energy efficient construction, the Vineland Fire Department Headquarters will provide full operational capabilities for the city’s firefighters, as well as the fire department’s administrative offices, and basement storage. The main floor has a full kitchen, conference room, daytime administrative offices for the director, chiefs, and daytime officers, and a state-of-the-art training room. Also on the main floor are offices for the Fire Prevention Bureau.

The east end of the main building houses living quarters for full-time paid staff with eight drive-through engine bays for fire apparatus, and a vehicle maintenance area. A modern air slide replaces the old fireman’s pole from the second level.

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