By Richard Marinucci

There is no doubt that every fire department and every fire chief desire fire apparatus that is functional, reliable, and as affordable as can realistically be expected.

With the exception of personnel, vehicles are the most expensive items in a fire department budget. As such, it is important for all organizations to learn as much as they can with regard to purchasing and maintaining fire apparatus. This may be easier said than done, since some departments do not have the resources to maximize their preparation for this critical component of their operation. But to save money and get the product they desire, they need to make an investment.

For the past 27 years, the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) has held a symposium to help fire departments and their personnel better prepare for the important job of acquiring and maintaining fire vehicles. The 28th Annual Apparatus Specification and Safety Symposium will be held January 18-20, 2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona. This event has the sole objective of offering detailed insight into the acquisition and maintenance of fire apparatus. It is not a vendor show but a chance to talk to industry leaders with great insight and experience in buying and fixing vehicles, which will help you to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.

Last year, approximately 400 attendees had the chance to listen to more than 30 industry experts present on a variety of topics. Attendees also were exposed to more than 40 vendor displays, where the manufacturers and service companies could explain their product in great detail. In between, networking opportunities were plentiful. This should not be discounted, as the opportunity to talk informally to those in the know really is valuable in terms of not only information being discussed but also growing your network. The contacts you make remain available to you long after the symposium is over.

Seminar topics this year include a variety of subjects covering all aspects of purchasing and maintaining vehicles. You can get tips about drafting specifications for new apparatus and detailed information about various vehicle components. There are other issues to consider as part of a comprehensive program. One such topic is politics. How much of your apparatus program is reliant on the political process in your community? It is significant, so there will be a session on political considerations in apparatus acquisition and maintenance.

A new aspect of the 2016 Symposium is that it will be held immediately prior to the FDSOA Annual Safety Forum. As part of the shared programing, Gordon Graham will deliver the closing keynote address of the Apparatus Symposium. Last year, Graham opened the program and received his usual rave reviews. The message he delivers is applicable to apparatus policies as well as the risk management in all aspects of the fire service.

Hopefully, you are considering attending or sending a representative of your organization (of course you can send more than one!). Visit the FDSOA Web site at http://www.fdsoa.org for more information. You can also call the office at (248) 880-1864. Save the date and set funds aside from your budget to attend this valuable symposium. You will be glad you did. You will definitely learn about things that will save you money in your fleet management and also learn of ways to improve reliability.

RICHARD MARINUCCI is the executive director of the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) and chief of the Northville Township (MI) Fire Department. He retired as chief of the

Carl J. Haddon

If your current rescue tools and your extrication training program are both 15 to 20 years old or older, then the answer to my question of compatibility is a resounding, "Yes," they are most likely compatible. Otherwise, you might be surprised. (Note: Fasten your seat belts, because this one is probably going to get me in trouble.)

Simply stated, today's vehicles are not built the same way or with the same materials as the vehicles of 15 or 20 years ago. Likewise, although a large percentage of available hydraulic rescue tools remained relatively "unchanged" from the mid-1970s until roughly 2005, the vast majority of them today perform and react quite differently than they did in the 1970s.

Although the cover page, headlines, and titles of extrication training programs have changed with the advances in vehicle and rescue tool technology, the content of most training programs has changed very little. Unfortunately, that lack of adequate evolution is now resulting in more near-miss accidents, firefighter injuries, and ultimately poorer patient outcomes. The sad truth is that it is also now resulting in more lawsuits against fire departments.

So, your department buys what it believes to be the best of the best new extrication tools, because your members want to be successful on rescues involving the challenging new vehicle technology (NVT) metals and construction. That makes perfect sense. The tool committee has compared, discussed, priced, and demonstrated tools to come up with the best choice for the department. But has anyone done that kind of research to update your extrication program? Honestly, do you even know how old your current curriculum for extrication is? I can tell you that, in my state, the extrication curriculum was updated about 10 years ago, and that update was antiquated when it was released!

For the sake of fairness, I have to say from personal experience that writing an extrication textbook or "updating" an extrication textbook is quite the challenge. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) sets the standards by which extrication textbooks most often have to follow. With all due respect to the fine folks working with the NFPA, the truth is that change and standards updates from the NFPA do NOT happen quickly at all. As a result, changes in publishers' extrication textbooks do not happen quickly at all either, as the two go hand in hand.

On the other side of that coin, changes in the automotive manufacturing industry are happening very fast. These automotive changes are quite literally demanding that those of us in the extrication education business step up our game and stay on top of it. The lives of our students, our own crew, and our patients depend on it.

Automotive engineering experts suggest that for hydraulic rescue tools to be successful on today's new vehicles, they have to have a winning combination of adequate compressive force, speed, and blade design. Albeit not as quickly as automotive technology advances occur, rescue tool technology continues to change and make great strides. If you think about it, not too long ago, most hydraulic rescue tool cutters on the market generated less than 200,000 pounds (lbs.) of cutting force. Today's new cars typically require a minimum of 200,000 lbs. of cutting force to conquer the new metals they are made with. Many of the tools available on the market today offer upward of 275,000 lbs. of cutting force, with a couple that boast nearly 400,000 lbs. of force. With

By Alan M. Petrillo

Rescue-pumpers have become fixtures in plenty of fire stations across the country, in many cases replacing two vehicles (a pumper and rescue) that at one time sat side by side in adjacent fire station bays.

As the use of rescue-pumpers continues to grow, manufacturers are making tweaks to their designs in response to requests for modifications from fire departments putting the apparatus to real-world use.

Tough to Define

Wayde Kirvida, factory sales engineer for CustomFIRE, believes that it's hard to pin down a precise definition of a rescue-pumper. "You take 20 firefighters and you'll get 20 different descriptions of a rescue-pumper," Kirvida says. "A lot of departments see the vehicle as mission-specific, where it runs out to a car wreck or a collapse call carrying equipment that doesn't exist on a structural firefighting pumper. So, its primary function might be as a pumper, but one that also can handle many rescue calls as well."

1 CustomFIRE built a rescue-pumper for the Morningside (MD) Fire Department where it special designed the compartments for specific equipment uses, as shown on the driver's side of the body. (Photo courtesy of CustomFIRE.)

Joe Messmer, president of Summit Fire Apparatus, says that rescue-pumpers appear to be the way of the future for fire departments. "It is the truck of favor at this point because the two types of vehicles go together so well," Messmer says. "My department, the Edgewood (KY) Fire Department, has run a rescue-pumper since the mid-1980s when its biggest feature was a front bumper extension with two hydraulic reels, two hydraulic rescue tools, and 200 feet of handline."

Messmer says that when Summit builds a rescue-pumper for a fire department, "we sit down with them and draw an imaginary line down the middle of the truck and decide which side is rescue and which is fire suppression. Then you determine the placement of the equipment on each side, and if something doesn't fit well on the vehicle, you have to consider the last time you used that piece of equipment and whether it's necessary to carry it."

To do a proper rescue-pumper, Messmer says, a department might have to give up something on each side of the vehicle. "You might have to carry a smaller fan than you would have liked, or give up some size in your water tank, or eliminate some other equipment you normally would carry on a traditional rescue," he adds. "But, times have changed, and the types of runs we go to have also."

2 Front bumpers continue to be a popular place to locate hydraulic rescue tools, as shown by this rescue-pumper built by Summit Fire Apparatus for the Crescent Springs-Villa Hills (KY) Fire Department. (Photo courtesy of Summit Fire Apparatus.)

Evolution

Shane Krueger, national sales manager for Marion Body Works, believes that rescue-pumpers have evolved for two main reasons: limited budgets and lack of personnel. "Many departments replace a second engine and a rescue with a single rescue-pumper as a way to justify a vehicle to the purchasing authority," Krueger says. "There's also the ability of the fire service to get enough personnel to respond

By Bill Adams

In 2012, the Rush (NY) Fire District retained an outside (third party) spec writer to "interact with apparatus manufacturers (OEMs) to coordinate preparing purchasing specifications" for a new pumper. Part 1 described the process from the successful bidder's viewpoint.

Part 2 evaluates the process from the purchaser's perspective. Apparatus purchasing committee (APC) members and past chiefs Bob Faugh, Mike Terzo Sr., and Dale Sweet were interviewed. Faugh and Terzo are current fire commissioners. Answers to specific questions (in italics) appear throughout this article.

Rush Truck Committee

"Truck committee" is local terminology for an APC. Faugh, says, "Our truck committee has considerable experience in purchasing apparatus. It includes four former chiefs. Most were involved in major purchases made in 2010; 2004; 2003; and with some on truck committees in 1995, 1992, and 1991. They've been through it before. Input from firematic line officers and firefighters was funneled through the department chief, Jim Bucci, who also sat on the committee."

1 The rear view of existing Pumper 582, a 2003 model that has served the district well. (Photos by author.)

Why a third-party spec writer?

Faugh states, "In the past, we always had a dealer help write specifications. The district had no problems with any of the manufacturers of the apparatus and chassis currently in service and would have purchased any of them. This time we felt writing an open specification would result in multiple bids benefiting the fire department and the taxpayers." He explains that there were two major reasons for going with an outside spec writer. "We knew the direction we wanted to go but weren't sure of the best way to get there. Some had reservations [about whether] a dealer would write an open specification. We didn't want to favor one manufacturer or exclude any either. It was best to have someone with no skin in the game. Another consideration was the time constraints on committee members. They spent a lot of time accumulating information, going to trade shows, and visiting other fire departments that recently purchased apparatus. We didn't relish meeting with a dozen vendors trying to sort through sales pitches."

Terzo concurs. "We spent a year at trade shows gathering ideas for this truck and talking with builders and inspecting their work," he says. "We did the same for our previous purchase, the rescue truck. The third party saved us lots of time. We were spinning our wheels a little bit in the beginning with many ideas, and the third party took us in the right direction to getting what we wanted. Instead of wasting time meeting with many dealers, we got the spec narrowed down to those who were interested in building the truck."

2 3 The rear view of the new Pumper 584. The new rig has all three suctions slide in on the right side with enclosed ladder storage on the left. The single high rear step compartment was split into an upper compartment carrying strainers and a lower compartment carrying a hydrant makeup kit. A tradeoff for redesigning and adding features to the back end was that the rear two-inch preconnected handline (tan in color on both rigs) remained high off the ground.

Swe

Christian P. Koop

Performance testing of fire pumps, once commonly referred to as service testing, is a basic requirement under National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1911, Standard for the Inspection, Maintenance, Testing, and Retirement of In-Service Automotive Fire Apparatus, that is in place to help ensure the heart of your fire truck, the fire pump, performs as designed so it can be reasonably expected to pump rated capacity every time it's needed during an emergency on the fireground.

It is a yearly requirement and also required after major pump system repairs have been done. As most know and will appreciate, a fire scene is not the place to find out that your rig's most important component will not deliver rated capacity or pressure when it is needed the most.

Over the past several years, I have noticed more companies are offering mobile pump testing services. This is probably a good option for those fire departments that do not have the time or staffing levels to get this very important requirement accomplished. However, I think it would be a great learning experience and more beneficial over the long run if done in-house. I truly believe having several key people on staff, fully trained, with the required test equipment to test fire pumps will pay dividends and is something departments should strive for. Keep in mind that performance testing is not only required by the NFPA once a year but it is also required after major repairs have been done to any part of the pump or the major components of the pumping system. This includes the drivetrain, fire pump, pump transmission (transfer case), and plumbing system.

Performance testing is a great training aid for pump operators and other crew members if they are present to assist during the actual test. Pump operators and other crew members can learn many important pump characteristics during testing that will help them gain more knowledge of the entire pumping system, which will translate to more experience and which could prove helpful during actual pumping situations at fire scenes.

My department for many years has had an emergency vehicle technician (EVT) present during testing for two main reasons: (1) to be readily available to address any minor mechanical/electrical problems that arise that can be repaired on scene without having to abort or reschedule the test; and (2) for training purposes, because being present and involved in the testing process will also help the EVT gain more knowledge and experience of the entire system just like it can for fire crew members.

Ensuring your rig is properly prepared for the test is an important step of the process. If the rig has been in service with no reported pump system issues and preventive maintenance (PM) is up to date, you should be good to move forward with the test. However, if PM is not up to date, it would be a good idea to have the shop's EVT fully service the rig prior to testing. If the unit is being tested because of major repairs, the shop should check to make sure PM services are up to date. If your rig's PM is not up to date, it is recommended to service the entire unit to include the engine, transmission, fire pump, pump transmission, and all chassis lubrication (including the discharge valve handles and all valve linkages) before the test. Operating all intake and discharge valves and test running the pump are essential parts of this service. This includes ensuring the pump governor and all relief valves, pump gauges, tank level gauges, pump drains, bleeders, and warning devices are operating