By Alan M. Petrillo

Fire departments don't always have the luxury of putting a newly purchased pumper, aerial, or rescue truck in a brand new fire station.

Most often the new apparatus has to live in an older station and sometimes in a very old station. Some of the vehicle housing considerations include its overall height, overall length, overall width, and weight. Such issues mean that manufacturers have to make alterations to their typical apparatus to fit those pumpers, aerials, and rescues into older firehouses.

1 Emergency Vehicles Inc. built this decontamination truck for the Boston (MA) Fire Department, where the vehicle had both height and length limitations to fit in the firehouse. (Photo courtesy of Emergency Vehicles, Inc.)

Height and Length

Chad Trinkner, senior director of business development for Pierce Manufacturing Inc., says that the biggest issues Pierce faces when building a new vehicle to be housed in an old station are the overall height and overall length requirements imposed by the old firehouse. "Fire departments today need to carry more water and equipment on their vehicles than when many of these stations were built," Trinkner points out, "which means bigger vehicles trying to squeeze into smaller spaces."

Trinkner notes that Pierce has used its Pierce Ultimate Configuration (PUC) in many instances to get a modern pumper into a smaller, older station. "The PUC eliminates the pump house, which means the vehicle length is shortened so we can do a 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump on a 29-foot overall length and still have lots of equipment space," he says. "To accommodate short overall height requirements, we can make adjustments to our TAK 4 independent front suspension to offer a reduction of several inches of height. And for aerials, we make five different pedestal heights for our platforms and ladders, which allow the turntable to set lower and get under a low overall height restriction."

2 The Fire Island Pines (NY) Fire Department had Custom Fire Apparatus build this pumper with a nine-foot, six-inch overall height and 26-foot, six-inch overall length to shoehorn it into an older fire station. [Photo courtesy of the Fire Island Pines (NY) Fire Department.]

Rick Suche, president of Fort Garry Fire Trucks, says he's found that many firehouses on the East coast of the United States and Canada are older, historic stations-usually with height and length limitations. "Often we will put a rub rail on the back of a truck instead of a tailboard to save space," Suche points out. "We'll also shorten up the front compartment and take it down to 12 inches, with our smallest pump panel at 36 inches wide. It's always a challenge because fire departments want manufacturers to put 10 pounds in a five-pound bag."

Christian P. Koop

From what I have observed looking back over the years, it appears to me that most commercial medium- and heavy-duty truck manufacturers, including for fire apparatus, have always seemed to lag behind the automotive industry in certain areas of technological development.

The same still seems to hold true when it comes to the engine's cooling system. There is an important advancement when it comes to cooling systems that has yet to be embraced by manufacturers that will not only improve the cooling system's efficiency but will also create extra room for technicians to perform repairs and maintenance in the engine compartment. In June 2014, I wrote about the importance of properly maintaining your rig's engine cooling system. I mentioned how the engine cooling system sometimes takes a back seat to other preventive maintenance areas such as lubrication, oil filtration, and air filtration-even though a failure in the cooling system could cause an expensive breakdown. Catastrophic engine failure because of a serious overheat can be one of the most expensive items to hit the maintenance budget. I am sure most will agree this is not a good thing with today's shrinking maintenance budgets, particularly if it could be prevented-not to mention what could happen from a life safety perpsective at a fire scene if the engine fails because of a cooling system failure.

Although it appears most of today's commercial truck and fire apparatus appear to be making use of the latest technological developments and innovations available, I still think the cooling system is taking a back seat to the other major engine systems in terms of innovation. A case in point is when automobiles went from the traditional rear-wheel-drive platform to a front-wheel-drive transverse mounted engine. In this case, engineers were forced to abandon the radiator cooling fan that had traditionally been mechanically belt-driven off the water pump drive pulley and use electric fans mounted right on the radiator housing. By doing so, they inadvertently created an energy efficiency advantage and improved system redundancy by going from a single fan to two electrical fans.

Diesel Cooling System History

Up until about 13 years ago, diesel engine cooling systems in most commercial heavy-duty trucks, including fire trucks, remained virtually unchanged. This changed when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enacted stricter emission regulations for the 2002 model year. These regulations were created to reduce nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide (NOX) and diesel particulate matter (PM) emissions. These regulations would gradually become stricter for model years 2007 and 2010, forcing diesel engine manufacturers to make major changes to their engines to meet regulations. One of these was introducing exhaust gas recirculation (EGR).

In 2002, EGR technology had already been in use in gasoline automobile engines for more than 30 years. The introduction of EGR technology created several issues for the truck manufacturers. Heat rejection was a major issue, and many heavy-duty rigs had component system failures related to elevated under-hood temperatures. This was linked to the EGR system generating more heat for the cooling system and taking up some valuable real estate in the engine compartment.

Most full size fire apparatus diesel engines are in the 400- to 500-horsepower (hp) range. These engines will require anywhere from 40 to 50 hp to turn a mechanical cooling system fan under full load. That equates to approximately 10 percent of the eng

Jim Peterson

We've all heard the tale that ends with "... and he ended up right under the truck!" Although these stories are good for a laugh, the reality is there is nothing amusing about a spill that incapacitates a member of the squad.

Indeed, there are multiple costs associated with slip-and-fall accidents, everything from emotional, to occupational, to financial. While many companies can tell you how much it costs to install a new flooring surface in the apparatus bay, I'm here to explain the cost of not installing a safe floor coating.

First, a little bit of background to illustrate why this issue is so important. Did you know that slip-and-fall accidents are:

• The second leading cause of death, injury, and disability in the workplace?
• The third leading cause of workers' compensation claims?
• The number one cause of workplace accidents?
• More likely to kill a worker than any other kind of accident?
• Responsible for 65 percent of lost work time?
• Responsible for more lawsuits against employers than any other type of accident?
• Responsible for more visits to the emergency room than all other accidents combined, with an average cost of $28,000?
• Responsible for more on-the-job deaths than any other accident?
• Responsible for an average of 17,000 deaths each year?

(Source: Andrew Kim Law Firm, PLLC)

Pay Now Or Later

When it comes to floor safety, the common adage is, "You can pay now or you can pay later." It is usually less expensive to take the steps required to prevent an accident than it is to pay for the cost of such things as workers' compensation, disability, medical, and possible legal fees and judgments.

"But Jim," you're probably thinking, "we're a tight-knit squad. We take care of our own. Nobody here is going to sue if they fall." Are you certain about that? Let's examine the case of a church parishioner in Boca Raton, Florida.

In 2009, Andrea Thompson, 34, slipped on the newly installed sidewalk outside of her church, severely injuring her knee. She had to undergo four surgeries, including a knee replacement, and doctors say she might require two future knee replacements. She may never regain full mobility. Thompson sued the Diocese of Palm Beach, which owns the church, and this past January a jury awarded her a total of $2.6 million.

You read that right: $2.6 million.

As reported by the Daily Business Review in Miami, Thompson was forced to leave her job and take a sedentary, lower-paying position. During the discovery phase of the trial, the jury learned that a subcontractor failed to apply a nonskid material on the new sidewalk that would have made it safer for pedestrians. The jury award included $600,000 for past and future medical costs, $87,000 for lost wages to date, and an additional $1.9 million for future lost wages and pain and suffering.

Soon after the accident, a contractor was seen applying a clear nonskid coating to the sidewalk-something that clearly should

By Alan M. Petrillo

Technology has allowed self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) makers to build a number of important elements into their face pieces that give firefighters instant ability to make decisions based on the data they receive.

Face pieces offer cross-contamination protection, have heads-up display (HUD) features that show the amount of pressure left in the air bottle, and incorporate elements such as breathing sensors and radio communication modules.

Protection, Comfort, Visibility

Jeff Emery, director of marketing and product management for Scott Safety, says that for Scott's face pieces the first goal is to provide firefighters with the highest level of protection possible. "That's mission number one for our face piece because respiratory protection is critical," Emery says. "There were significant changes to face pieces after [National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1981, Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) for Emergency Services (2013 ed.)] was issued, where there was an increase in testing for high temperatures and radiant heat that meant new lenses made from advanced materials. The new lens materials gave our face piece a big improvement in survivability in a catastrophic event and also reduce the incidents of crazing and spider webbing at higher temperatures."

1 Scott Safety's AV3000HT face piece has an EPIC 3RI radio interface, shown here with a voice amplification unit on the right side, that uses a wireless Bluetooth connection to a lapel microphone, allowing it to connect to a variety of radios. (Photo courtesy of Scott Safety.)

Ben Mauti, fire service market manager for MSA North America, says MSA designed its G1 face piece from scratch by working with firefighters to incorporate their experiences with all types of face pieces. "Our first focus was the fit of our G1 face piece," Mauti points out. "Our medium face piece is designed to comfortably fit most firefighters and is ¾ of a pound lighter than our previous face piece. We removed the electronics and battery from the face piece, which makes it lighter and more comfortable to wear and has less physiological stress for the firefighter."

The next attribute of the G1 face piece is its "extremely wide field of view," Mauti says, "because there are no accessories attached to the face piece to block the firefighter's view." The G1 face piece provides cross contamination protection through an exhalation valve that prevents spit and sweat from getting into the regulator, he adds, and is made up of two parts. "There's one airflow path when the regulator is hooked up to the face piece and a secondary flow path, an open port design, to allow the firefighter to breath without exhalation resistance when in a standby mode."

The G1 face piece places a mechanical speech diaphragm in the breathing zone in front of a firefighter's mouth, with two microphones lining up with the open breathing port. "There is nothing in between the speech and the two microphones picking it up," Mauti says. "It's part of the regulator, so when you click it into the face piece, it's right there. The voice then gets broadcast off a speaker amplifier on the SCBA's

Citing threats to public safety, the head of Vancouver’s firefighters union announced Tuesday that the union opposes a proposal to build the nation’s largest rail-to-ship oil transfer terminal at the Port of Vancouver. The city is “not staffed appropriately” and “we don’t have the training, and we don’t have the equipment to effectively respond to an emergency at the oil terminal,” Mark Johnston, president the Vancouver Firefighters Union IAFF Local 452, told port commissioners during the port’s regular public meeting.
- PUB DATE: 10/13/2015 11:38:25 AM - SOURCE: Vancouver Columbian