By Alan M. Petrillo
The ride to and from a fire scene in a pumper, rescue, or aerial can be exhilarating, tiring, or relaxing in getting from one place to another.
![1 USSC Valor First Responder Seating makes the Magnus G2A driver seat in three versions, one of which can hold 650 pounds and has three lumbar settings, horizontal air slides, and electric controls. (Photos 1-2 courtesy of USSC Valor First Responder Seating.)](/content/dam/fa/print-articles/volume-22/issue-6/1706FA_PetrilloSeating1.jpg) |
1 USSC Valor First Responder Seating makes the Magnus G2A driver seat in three versions, one of which can hold 650 pounds and has three lumbar settings, horizontal air slides, and electric controls. (Photos 1-2 courtesy of USSC Valor First Responder Seating.) |
The seats that firefighters occupy in those apparatus have to be able to safely convey the firefighter to the job, provide access to the equipment needed along the way, and be durable to last the life of the apparatus. Seating manufacturers are focusing on attributes that allow for safety first while adding comfort and convenience for users.
USSC Valor
Steve Toren, vice president of USSC Valor First Responder Seating, says the company offers driver, officer, and crew seats in its first responder line as well as ambulance emergency medical technician (EMT) attendant seats and command-style seats that are stationary and mounted to the chassis.
The Valor First Responder Seating line has three styles of driver seats. There are two air suspension seat styles and an electric style. The Valor Magnus G2A air suspension seat has front toggle controls for height adjustment and lower, middle, and upper lumbar adjustments.
For the driver seat, the Valor Magnus series heavy-duty model can lift and hold 650 pounds and has air ride, horizontal air slides and three lumbar settings. The standard Valor Magnus will lift and hold 350 pounds, but the other settings are manual. There’s an air button for the air ride itself, but everything else is manual—manual slides, manual lumbar, and manual recline.
The third driver seat is an all electric seat. It’s a 12-way electric seat, with most functions handled electrically.
For the officer position, fire departments can use one of the three seats offered for the driver’s position. “Additionally in the officer’s position, many times departments will want to put in a crew seat—a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) style crew seat in the officer’s position,” says Toren. “Many times they will take that crew seat and want to put mechanisms under it, i.e. air ride suspension, slides, etc.” According to Toren, the crew seats are adaptable for the officer’s seat to incorporate these features.
The models are available in all belts to seats (ABTS) and nonABTS models.
The air ride seats use technology that USSC brought from its transit seats to the first responder seats. “We decided to get into the first responder business about five years ago,” says Toren. “And, the reason we did that is based on our heritage of manufacturing transit seating for both the driver position and the passenger position in buses and light rail. We’ve been manufacturing seating for that for about 30 years.” He adds, “Also military. Our military line of seating is considered one of the best lines of seating for our war fighters. So, that’s our heritage really—in those two categories.”
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