By Frank R. Myers

After driving the same vehicle every day, you will learn to hear and feel anything occurring that is out of the norm. Regardless of your level of expertise or knowledge, one must take action before “more expensive issues” add injury to insult.

At the start of a tour of duty or shift day, I would always perform a walk-around of the apparatus to assess any new damage or abnormalities. I was not trying to accuse another firefighter of causing damage, just trying to get any problem corrected early in the day. One of the easiest and dead giveaways that there is a suspension problem is if you notice the truck “leaning.”

Low tire pressure can also cause the apparatus to “lean,” so a driver needs to pay special attention to the inside tires if the apparatus has a dual tire configuration at the rear of the truck and/or tandem, dual axles with dual tires.

Viewing from the front of the truck about five to10 feet away or more, look at the bumper and see if it is parallel to the ground. If not, chances are that you may have a broken leaf spring(s) or cab mount(s). Cab mounts could be the problem if, when driving, you hear a “knocking” under the feet of the officer or driver or both.

Another case for “knocking” could be steering components. This issue can occur after periods of heavy rain. Some parts that get “lubed” may have had the grease or other lubricant washed off. When turning around corners, especially acutely, a knock will be heard, but not when driving in a straight line. Regardless of whether or not it is a lubrication issue, report it to maintenance personnel.

An easy visual inspection, without having to place the truck on a lift, is viewing the spring mounts where they attach to the chassis or frame rails. It is also advantageous to check the shackles or “U” bolts that keep the spring stack together. First of all, make sure that they are present, one on each end of the stack and/or that it has not moved or slid along the spring stack.

Your apparatus may not have the conventional spring stack configuration. You may have independent front wheel suspension or the same on the rear where there is an upper and lower control arm. Alternative terms may be an “A” Strut (Top) and “B” Strut (Lower). Inspection of these components is pretty much the same as a conventional suspension. Assure that they are attached to the chassis or frame rails via the mounting brackets. Also look for any cracks or hairline cracks that may be starting in the components.

Don’t be afraid to grab and shake or try to wiggle any of the larger metal parts that make up the steering components. Be sure to check any visible rubber bushings for cracks or “metal touching metal.” Obviously, look for any fluid leaks like power steering fluid or brake fluid if equipped with hydraulic brakes.

Other noises that can mimic a suspension problem are tire and brake components—such as worn or bad bearings, loose lug nuts, bent or cracked rims, damaged disc brake rotors, etc. All these can be easily detected without having to put the truck on a lift by turning the front tires so you can look in the wheel well. A leaking hub seal around the center of the tire/rim would look like a dirty rim: oily and grimy. Some torque putty or lug nut indicators would reveal when a lug nut is beginning to “back” off. Be sure to take off the decorative chrome or plastic caps to inspect the actual nut itself. When looking inside the wheel well(s), inspect the disc rotors—revealing uneven wear, discoloration, warping, grooves, or gouges or brake glaze.

I once had a friend who worked for the railroad company. He told me the story of how an engineer operates the locomotive. He said a good engineer does it by th

By Alan M. Petrillo

Three years ago, the University of Arizona's Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health was awarded a $1.4 million federal research grant to study vehicular accidents in fire departments around the country and to find cost-effective, efficient methods to limit driving accidents when responding to fire calls. Preliminary data, says the study's chief researcher, indicate that reductions in vehicle accidents can be achieved, depending on the interventions chosen by the fire department.

Jefferey Burgess, MD, MS, MPH, associate dean for research and a professor at the College, says the objective of the study was to use a risk management approach to reduce the number of fire service vehicle crashes for four participating fire departments, representing urban, suburban and rural geographies across the United States.

"Each of the departments had formed risk management teams from different parts of their departments," Burgess points out. "We worked with the teams to review all their previous crash data, determine the frequency and severity of previous events, create a risk matrix, look at existing controls (standard operating procedures and driving instruction), and identify new controls to put in place," Burgess says. "The individual departments selected the controls they wanted to implement, and we helped them measure the effectiveness of the interventions they chose over time."

Burgess notes that while one department started with no crashes, and thus would have no changes during the study, he and his research assistant, David Bui, a PhD candidate and the study program manager, are still reviewing the outcome data and tracking the effectiveness of the interventions. Bui notes that "we expect to finalize that information some time in 2018."

Preliminary results, however, Bui says, indicate that two out of three fire departments that had crash data saw reductions in their vehicular crashes because of the interventions that the departments chose to implement over the study period. "One department did a lot of interventions, like installing side and rearview cameras on ambulances, changing lights and siren SOPs for noncritical calls, and participating in a train-the-trainer driver enhancement course," he says. "The department also sent daily messages to personnel about safety, and eliminated garage door closers from fire vehicles. The department showed a moderate reduction in vehicle crashes as a result of their various interventions."

Another department also participated in the enhanced training through the train-the-trainer course, and applied that information to its personnel, Bui notes. "Within a year, they retrained all their drivers to the enhanced training standard and also used telematics technology to collect driver driving data remotely," he says. "Using those interventions, the department was successful in reducing crashes and changing driver behavior, and was found to have some initial reduction in vehicle crashes over the study period, but we are still collecting data from this department."

A third department had no reduction in accidents to date, Bui noted. "The interventions the department chose have not been associated with any reductions based on the data we have received from them thus far,"