Residents of Skagit Valley Mobile Manor received free smoke alarms Saturday as part of the American Red Cross campaign Sound the Alarm. The nationwide campaign, which kicked off Saturday, has a goal of installing 100,000 alarms in communities at high risk of fires in 16 days. “Smoke alarms save lives,” Red Cross Northwest Region CEO Alex Dieffenback said in a news release.
- PUB DATE: 4/29/2018 6:04:32 AM - SOURCE: Skagit Valley Herald (GoSkagit.com)

For any kind of volunteer organization, putting in 1,000 hours of work is considered good, according to Phil Slagle, a member of the Cowlitz County Search and Rescue Team. Last year, his team put in almost 13,000 hours. The Cowlitz team is made up of more than 60 members, all volunteers. It’s also always growing.
- PUB DATE: 4/28/2018 9:11:46 PM - SOURCE: Longview Daily News

Voters in Tumwater were wise - and decisive - in their vote to uphold the city ban on personal use of fireworks during the Fourth of July holidays. More than 60 percent of voters in Tuesday's special election opposed Initiative 1, which sought to repeal a City Council-approved ban. The ban took effect in December and followed the citywide advisory vote in 2016 that was decided by just 78 votes.
- PUB DATE: 4/28/2018 8:12:50 PM - SOURCE: Olympian

At long last, Luke Carpenter is pager-less and sleeping in. Until about 4:30 a.m., even. That’s pretty late by his standards, though one of his immediate goals is, understandably, to improve that situation. But relaxation takes practice and while he’s an expert at many things, the ability to chill out remains a glaring omission on the man’s otherwise impressive curriculum vitae.
- PUB DATE: 4/28/2018 2:49:01 PM - SOURCE: Bainbridge Island Review

Pierce Manufacturing today introduced the expansion of its Command Zone™ advanced electronics architecture with the unveiling of CZConnect™, a fully-integrated telematics system featuring a free, customized vehicle readiness report containing vehicle performance data and maintenance interval information.

APPLETON, WI—Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation has expanded its Command Zone™ advanced electronics architecture with CZConnect™, a fully integrated telematics system on display at FDIC International. CZConnect joins the existing CZControl and CZDiagnostics branches of the Command Zone system as the first fully integrated WiFi-based telematics solution available in the fire industry. With CZConnect integration, a free customized vehicle readiness report containing vehicle performance data and maintenance interval information is emailed to up to five addresses chosen by the customer.

“CZConnect provides the opportunity to give fire departments access to data that can improve their performance, while at the same time, allowing Pierce to build-out long-term value propositions such as predictive maintenance and total cost of ownership,” said Jason Anibas, senior chief engineer, Pierce Manufacturing. “We’re proud to be the first in the fire industry to offer a fully-integrated telematics solution and look forward to incorporating customer feedback in the expansion of the system’s analytic capability.”

The on-board telematics control unit (TCU) continually monitors the engine, transmission, brake systems, fluid levels, system voltage, operating hours, vehicle location, and status of Command Zone I/O while the apparatus is performing its daily activities. Apparatus and GPS data is pushed from the vehicle each time it auto connects to a known WiFi network. Data analytics is performed, and a customized report is generated and designed to be viewed on mobile devices. A vehicle readiness report can also be requested at any time from the vehicle display.

Activating the customized vehicle readiness report is as simple as navigating to the Report Menu on the vehicle display, entering up to five e-mail addresses, and connecting to a minimum of one of a possible ten WiFi networks. The customer can modify e-mail addresses and WiFi networks at anytime.

“Our goal was to make the vehicle readiness report simple and intuitive, while still adding value,” said Anibas. “Each of the report category headers provide a visual indication if there is an action item contained within. Each category can be expanded or compressed to reveal the amount of information desired by the customer.”

The CZConnect fully-integrated telematics system and vehicle readiness report is available on any Pierce fire truck equipped with the Command Zone Advanced Electronics System. For a comprehensive review of CZConnect, visit www.piercemfg.com for system highlights, video and images.

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