By USDD Staff

One of the key benefits of having a high-functioning USDD Phoenix G2 Fire Station Alerting System at your community’s disposal is that it’s designed to help improve your public protection classification (PPC), and thus can lower your Insurance Services Office (ISO). Let’s take a look at how you can take advantage of lowered ISO insurance rates in your community.

Standards for ISO Insurance Rates
First, as everyone in this industry ought to be aware, the ISO Rating Service was developed in response to insurers’ requests for a way to automate the complex, labor-intensive, and costly process of managing and maintaining policy rates.

In the emergency response field, ISO helps establish appropriate insurance premiums for residential and commercial properties through its classification program for communities’ fire protection services. These ratings are critically important to fire departments and the communities they serve. Fortunately, there’s a quick path to lowering your community’s ISO insurance rates—and thus your premiums—by setting up a trackable means of monitoring the integrity of your public dispatch system.

Monitoring for integrity involves installing automatic systems that detect faults and failures and send visual and audible indications to appropriate personnel. To receive the credit, you must follow the general criteria of NFPA 1221, Standard for the Installation, Maintenance, and Use of Emergency Communications Systems. The standard defines monitoring for integrity as the “automatic monitoring of circuits and other system components for the existence of defects or faults that interfere with receiving or transmitting an alarm.”

As an initial step in this process, ISO has developed a worksheet to determine your community’s credit for integrity monitoring. ISO works both by scheduling periodic community reviews themselves (in other words, they will contact you), or by responding to requests from the communities to initiate a review process (you contact them). Once contacted, an ISO field rep will work with someone from your dispatch center to complete the worksheet. The rep will review systems diagrams and tech data from the system manufacturer and software provider to help you calculate your credits.

Five Things Needed to Monitor your Dispatch System
To receive credit for monitoring the primary dispatch circuit in your community, you need to have an automated system in place that continuously checks all the circuit’s components, including its power supply.

Following are five important monitoring prerequisites:

1. Set up your alert. Ensure that your visual and audible (trouble) signals are set up to alert communications center personnel whenever a component fails.
2. Repeat your audible signal. Set up the audible signal so that it sounds again in the event of an additional fault.
3. Create a dedicated display. Make sure that the visual signal is on a dedicated display not used for routine dispatching.
4. Schedule personnel. Make sure to assign appropriate personnel to be on duty, ready to respond when the trouble alarm sounds.
5. Double up your transmitters. Make certain that you have a functioning spare in place that can take over in the event of a radio circuit failure.

Rapid Response Designed USDD System
At US Digital Designs, we’ve taken great pains to make sure that our Phoenix G2 Fire Station Alerting System has the built-in capability to ensure rapid r

TORRANCE, CA—Adding to its safety-certified lighting options, Pelican Products, Inc., has introduced the Class I, Div. 1 compliant Pelican™ 3315R and 3315R-RA (right angle) LED flashlights. 

Pelican 3315R LED and 3315R-RA LED flashlights are powered by a unique lithium ion rechargeable battery that provides a life expectancy of over 2,000 cycles. They are engineered for use in Class I, Division 1 hazardous environments. With three lighting modes (high/low/flashing), each model shines up to 132 lumens of clear brilliant light and delivers a run time up to 34 hours.

The 3315R-RA LED flashlight is equipped with an articulating head that includes an integrated stainless steel clip that allows for hands free applications. This feature can be added to the 3315R by using the right angle adapter #3317 (sold separately).

Additionally, they feature a full time battery level indicator that is conveniently integrated into the switch. Their ergonomic polymer bodies are engineered with a sure-grip texture and include a lanyard to provide another layer of drop protection. Compact and lightweight are two more beneficial features they provide.

Both lights boast an ingress protection level of IPX7, protecting against the harshest outdoor conditions. Available accessories include a right angle adapter (for the 3315R), a helmet mount, a holster and vehicle chargers.

For more information on hazardous environment safety certifications, please visit http://img.pelican.com/docs/flashlight-safety-standards.pdf. 

For more information, visit www.pelican.com.

CLICK ABOVE FOR A GALLERY OF THIS FIRE STATION >>

By Alan M. Petrillo

The San Luis Obispo (CA) County Regional Airport Fire Station is unusual in a couple of ways: It is unique in its design that is fashioned like the wing of an aircraft, and it functions as the station for airport aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) response, as well as municipal fire protection for the southern and eastern parts of the city of San Luis Obispo.

"This county station is a contract station with CALFIRE," says Mark Cameron, CALFIRE captain. "What we call the red side has county-owned fire apparatus, while the green side has airport-owned apparatus. All of our firefighters are cross-trained and ARFF-qualified to meet the requirements for an ARFF Index B airport, which means the largest aircraft we get on a regular basis are 90-passenger regional jets." The airport handles approximately 20 commercial flights and 100 general aviation flights daily.

The 9,500-square-foot station apparatus room has three bays, double deep, that accommodate both municipal and ARFF apparatus. The $2.8 million station was funded with 50 percent of the money coming from a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant, and the other half from San Luis Obispo County.

The municipal apparatus include a 2009 Smeal Type 1 engine with a 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump and 500-gallon water tank; a 2007 West-Mark International 7600 chassis water tender with a 1,000-gpm pump and 2,500-gallon water tank; a 2009 SVI Trucks heavy rescue carrying a Type 2 urban search and rescue (USAR), Type 2 swift water, and medium mass casualty incident (MCI) complements; and an inflatable boat with a 30-hp outboard motor. The ARFF fleet is made up of two Oshkosh 1,500-gpm ARFF vehicles and a mass casualty truck that carries medical supplies to treat up to 100 victims.

The design of the station is built in the shape of an airfoil or wing, says Larry Enyart, president of LEA Architects, who designed and built the station. "It was an intensive work process working on site with the users," Enyart says. "We had to consider maneuvering areas for both the municipal and ARFF apparatus, existing buildings that had to be replaced, and removal of dilapidated hangers at the site. The airfoil design was inspired by the aviation components of the aircraft, and echoes the feeling of the gently rolling hills nearby."

Enyart points out that LEA designed shade areas on the structure to function as if they were flaps on the wing of an aircraft, and that it used local and regional masonry materials for both durability and sound control in the station. "This station is designed to be the home away from home for those who serve their shifts there," he says, "so it has to be a comfortable place to live and work."

Cameron notes that the previous station had only 900 square feet of living space, compared with 4,500 square feet of living space in the new station. "In our old station, we could see the airport from every room, so we wanted visibility in the new station too," he says. "LEA was very responsive to our needs in that sense, and the amount of window space we have compared to other AFFF stations is very high. Our new training room looks out over the runways and can b

By Ken Newell, AIA, LEED-AP BD+C

“Learn from other people’s mistakes.” That is a quote we have all heard and desire to apply to our own life experiences. Unfortunately, another quote is more often applicable to everyone’s situation: “What we learn most from history, is that we don’t learn from history.”

With more than four decades of designing more than 350 public safety facilities, our firm has witnessed numerous, common pitfalls encountered by organizations planning, designing, and constructing fire stations. The most common, in no particular order, follow.

Not Having Facility End Users on the Design Committee
People who are actually going to be housed in the facility should be on the committee that selects the designer and works with the designer throughout the process. This makes for a better building and happier end-users.

Underestimating the Time Required for the Project
An understanding of how long it takes to plan, design, prepare construction documents, obtain agency approvals, bid, and construct the facility is crucial in determining your overall project schedule and starting soon enough to meet your time expectations.

Underestimating the Budget Required for the Project
Most departments that have not recently built a commercial building—especially a modern fire station—are greatly surprised at how expensive they can be. Make sure to use cost projections based on recent station projects that are detailed similar to the facility you expect.

Shown is the recently completed Jacksonville (NC) Station No. 2. (Photo courtesy of Stewart-Cooper-Newell Architects.)

Selecting Designers Inexperienced in Public Safety Facilities
Any good architect should be capable of learning how to design the best station to fit your needs. But do you really want them to learn how on your project? Selecting the experienced designer will result in saving significant money on bid day, during construction, and throughout the life of the facility.

Selecting a Bad Site
There are many site characteristics and conditions that will guarantee a more expensive design fee and a higher construction cost. Identifying these issues before the site is selected will ensure a lower project cost. The “free” or “cheap” site does not always prove to be so. 

Not Acquiring Available, Adjacent Property
If property adjacent to the site you are considering is available for purchase, seriously consider the acquisition. Most stations will need to be expanded during their life spans.

Not Informing the Public or Neighborhood of Plans
Good communications with the taxpayers and/or neighbors is the best way to avoid public protests. Have some well-timed and well-announced public meetings to at least provide an opportunity for public education and input.

Include a Construction Contingency Allowance
A construction contingency allowance is a specified sum of money identified in the contractor’s bid that is designed to be a pool from which potential unforeseen expenditures during construction, such as unknown rock or unsuitable soils, can be paid. The contingency allowance can also cover changes to the project that you identify during construction that will require additional construction costs. Whatever is not spent from the contingency allowance at the end of construction will simply be returned to the department.

Planning Without Growth Expectations
Site size and layout, along with building size and layout, will be significantly dif