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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PSTrax, a technology service that helps fire departments across the country automate their apparatus, equipment and inventory checks, has rolled out a new program that provides total trackability and auditing of fire department drug supplies.

Early adopter fire departments are discovering the benefits of the program’s flexibility to “structure customization” fully to their tracking, chain of custody, auditing and reporting needs without investing extensive upfront time and resources.

Based on department requirements, PSTrax does all the setup of a complete reporting and tracking system accessible from any smartphone, desktop, tablet, laptop, and Toughbook.

Increased concerns about narcotics, consequent chain-of-custody pressure from the DEA and other government agencies, and paper-based tracking protocols that leave a lot of room for error drove development of the new program. In addition, when agencies such as the DEA come calling, they want immediate and comprehensive reports, an often-difficult challenge for paper systems.

Not only will this system provide a highly sophisticated and reliable chain-of-custody overview, it provides those in charge easy ability to see a daily report about everything from discrepancies to restocking issues. Given their responsibility for irregularities of any kind around drugs, command personnel want to run an extremely tight ship in this area.

“Automating, maintaining, and updating drug inventories without a hiccup are musts for today’s fire service, which is administering these drugs with ever-increasing frequency. This also can help EMS, private ambulance services, prisons and other organizations responsible for stocking and rapid replacement of heavy-duty drugs,” notes PSTrax Principal Scott Bergeron.

He adds that often third-party physicians are involved in fire department paramedic programs. Given that their license is on the line, they too have a huge stake in making sure everything is accounted for and administered properly.

The PSTrax Drug Module program also helps the fire service:

• Efficiently track down missing drugs. Unusual patterns or occurrences are much more subject to fast detection because the accountability system is so complete and current;
• Maintain stocks at proper levels. Reporting shows understocking, often due to being on calls, and alerts will let the next shift know what to restock during their arriving check;
• Identify any anomalies, deficiencies or problems, as anything out of whack shows up in red on the log sheet;
• Meet any tracking and reporting demand, such as daily reports requested by the DEA and/or the chain of command;
• Develop a much more robust and secure system around drug accountability and chain of custody—including tightening controls on system access to specifically authorized users.

More: www.pstrx.com

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