Alan M. Petrillo

The Edgartown (MA) Fire Department, located on the island of Martha's Vineyard, has a number of unusual fire protection issues to deal with, notably tight, narrow streets in the old whaling village center of town; lots of large homes down long driveways in wooded areas not serviced by hydrants; and covering Chappaquiddick Island by way of a 60-foot-long wooden ferry.

Alex Schaeffer, Edgartown's deputy fire chief, says the department wanted to replace an older 26-foot-long, nine-foot-high pumper with a similar vehicle but one that included a larger water tank, pump-and-roll capability, and an expanded amount of compartment space. After checking with several manufacturers, Schaeffer says the truck committee determined that KME could best meet the department's needs.

"We had three meetings with the KME people and Bulldog Fire Apparatus before we awarded the contract," Schaeffer says. "We developed a good rapport and relationship with both of them and then had six more revision meetings after the contract was signed."

Maneuverability

Schaeffer points out that larger, longer fire trucks are difficult to maneuver around the island and generally can't fit on the boat to Chappaquiddick. "It's hard to get around our island with the bigger pumpers and trucks," he says. "We have a lot of narrow streets and some long, narrow driveways running to homes in the 10,000-square- foot range but that are nowhere near a hydrant. We wanted a short-wheelbase rescue-pumper that had an under-30-foot overall length and under-10-foot overall height that could carry as much water as possible and also have pump-and-roll capability. KME built us what we wanted."

The Edgartown (MA) Fire Department chose KME to build this rescue-pumper on a 176-inch wheelbase with a Hale 1,500-gpm midship pump, a Hale 160-gpm pump-and-roll pump, a 750-gallon water tank, a 15-gallon Class A foam cell, and a 30-gallon Class B foam cell. (Photos courtesy of KME.)

The end result was a rescue-pumper with a 176-inch wheelbase; 29-foot, three-inch overall length; and nine-foot, 9½-inch overall height carrying a Hale DSD 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) midship pump, a 750-gallon water tank, a 15-gallon Class A foam cell, a 30-gallon Class B foam cell, a Hale HP100 160-gpm pump-and-roll pump, and a Waterous Advantus 6 foam system, says Jason Witmier, product manager of aerials for KME. "The shorter wheelbase and overall length allowed us to give them a good angle of departure, which was very important when they were putting the vehicle on the small ferry," Witmier says. "The rear of the vehicle's body is higher than the front, allowing us a 16-degree loaded angle of departure to allow safe loading onto the ferry."

Water Delivery

To shrink the pump house to allow the smaller wheelbase, KME used all Elkhart Brass electric valves. But, the Edgartown firefighters had lingering concerns about going all electric, so KME mounted the electric valves down lo

By Alan M. Petrillo

Fire station bay doors serve a number of functions: allowing quick and safe egress of fire apparatus; sealing out heat, cold, and inclement weather; and lending a visual appeal to the aesthetics of the building.

It's those main considerations, along with cost and maintenance factors, that fire department personnel and designers keep in mind when putting bay doors on new fire stations or outfitting older stations with newer model doors.

Four-Fold Doors

Steve Bonacci, assistant sales manager for Electric Power Door, says his company has been in the door business for 93 years and he's spent 40 years with them. "Fire departments generally have three choices for their apparatus bay doors," Bonacci points out. "The least expensive is an overhead sectional door. Then there's the rolling steel door, which is essentially a curtain that rolls up. Third, there's the four-fold door."

Bonacci notes that four-fold doors are bi-fold doors that split in the middle and open both to the left and right. "We only market four-fold doors for fire stations because they are high-cycle and low-maintenance," he says. "They are custom-designed, and owners can spec what they want-how many windows, an arched opening, or wood cladding over the steel. The sky's the limit as to the design."

The Sacramento (CA) Fire Department chose to install Electric Power Door four-fold doors on its Fire Station Number 5. (Photo courtesy of Electric Power Door.)

Four-fold doors can be engineered to be hurricane- and tornado-resistant, Bonacci says, or even bullet- and blast-resistant if needed. "We can cover all the boundaries a station may need."

Kevin Landgraff, sales manager for Door Engineering and Manufacturing, says four-fold doors have been growing slowly in popularity for the past dozen years or so. "Four-fold doors are the main product we make for fire station apparatus bays," he says. "They have an advantage in operational speed, opening in less than seven seconds, and also are energy-efficient in keeping heating and cooling losses to a minimum. Many of them have large glass panels in them that are one-inch, insulated, low-E, tinted high-performance glass."

Besides performance and speed, four-fold doors also have the advantage that there is no wear like that on critical components at the top of overhead sectional or rolling steel doors. "With a four-panel door, you have two panels folding off to each side, operated by an overhead mounting that rotates to pull the door open and push it closed," Landgraff says. "Perhaps a weather seal may wear out with age, but that won't affect the operation of the door."

Hormann-Flexon installed its Speed Guardian 4000 rolling steel doors at the El Paso (TX) Fire Department's Station 37. (Photo courtesy of Hormann-Flexon.)

Landgraff says that Door Engineering and Manufacturing, which has be

Robert Tutterow

How do we define a truly functional and sustainable fire station? The F.I.E.R.O. Fire Station Symposium, occurring September 28-30 at the Raleigh Sheraton Hotel, is the place to find out.

Fire stations are fascinating facilities. They can be an iconic source of pride for a community or just another nondescript public facility. Because of their complexity, only a handful of architects are experienced enough to design a truly functional and sustainable facility. They are complex in that they can have any of the following elements: garage, restaurant, dormitory, family room, classroom, offices, repair shops, warehouse, fitness room, decontamination room, community rooms, training props, museum, and other elements particular to a community. Each of the elements has unique characteristics to the fire service.

A veteran metro fire chief once said the two most difficult things about a fire station are putting one in a neighborhood and taking one out of a neighborhood. Unfortunately, most news stories about fire stations involve community push back when a new station in proposed-i.e., NIMBY. To address this situation, one of the F.I.E.R.O. Symposium presentations will be by Dennis Ross, titled "Gaining and Maintaining Community Support." For many fire personnel, the design and building of a fire station is a once-in-a-career challenge. Ken Newell's presentation titled "Where Do I Start" is ideal for setting the stage for a station that meets the fire department's and community's needs. There will also be a presentation on site selection and a "Firehouse Design 101" presentation.

Safety and Health

As this is a safety column, I would be remiss if I did not mention fire station safety. Having reviewed almost 3,000 firefighter personal injury reports during my career, I was astonished at how many occurred in and around the fire station. Fortunately, most were minor injuries, but there were a notable number that led to lost time and high workers' compensation costs. In fact, the most expensive workers' compensation case during my 24 years as health and safety officer occurred as the result of a slide-pole injury to a civilian employee. Though not firefighter-related, the costs and impact on that person and the city were the same as if it happened to a firefighter. Slips, falls, sprains, and strains are common fire station injuries. Kevin Roche will give a presentation about safety in the fire station. He has a very comprehensive list of station-related safety and health issues, complete with photos, that is historically one of the highest rated presentations.

Cancer and Fire Stations

Cancer is the silent killer of firefighters, and the fire station has been referred to as a collection point for carcinogens for fire incidents. Note the use of the word "collection" rather than "containment." I think the fire station is a distribution point for carcinogens as firefighters often carry contaminated gear with them when they leave the station. In addition, we allow the public to touch, wear, and handle contaminated gear and equipment during station tours. To learn ways to minimize this risk, Paul Erickson of LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects will present "Hot Zone Design: Contain the Contaminants." This is a concept he has pioneered.

An additional health and safety presentation related to cancer will be given by Kirk Owen, retired assistant chief with the Plano (TX) Fire Department and past chair of the National Fire Protect

By Raul A. Angulo

At the 2000 Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC), I was chosen to moderate "Brennan and Bruno III," a highlight in my career.

Someone asked Brennan what was the best technique (referring to a rescue carry) to rescue a victim. Brennan looked at Bruno with an "I don't know … what do you think?" look and said something like, "In the heat of the moment, you just grab the victim and go and hope that whatever you grabbed doesn't come off." That comment stuck with me over the years, and I've never forgotten it.

Rescue carries are easy when they're practiced in the comfort of your firehouse and there's no urgency. It's almost impossible to create a realistic training scenario with real smoke and fire. Full-size rescue dummies may weigh the same as an adult victim, but they're stiff. A real unconscious person may be clothed or naked. They can be flaccid, heavy, and slippery. Naked victims or those wearing pajamas are difficult to manage. Most of us will go through our entire careers without actually making a real rescue. In my 37-year career, I've only been involved in three civilian rescues from fire. All three were elderly women, and all three were wearing nightgowns. When I was captain of Engine 33, we responded to a fire in South Seattle. My members were able to scoop up and carry two small, frail ladies out of their burning house. The rescue carries were fast and easy, but the women did not survive the fire.

Retired San Antonio (TX) Firefighter Ken Dempsey is the inventor of the Sling-Link Multiple Application Service Tool (MAST). (Photos by author.)

Years earlier when I was a lieutenant on Engine 9, we responded to an apartment fire in downtown Seattle. On our arrival, an elderly lady was calling for help at a second-floor window. The fire was in the adjacent unit, but smoke had filled the hallway and was now coming out from her window. It looked like it was going to be a classic ground ladder rescue. My members threw a 26-foot ladder up to the window. One firefighter went up and into the room to assist the elderly lady through the window and onto the ladder. I was the second one up the ladder to assist her down. All of a sudden, her foot slipped and she fell onto the ladder, straddling the rungs. This was obviously an awkward and painful position for a victim on the ladder. Unlike the previous example, this lady was large and heavy. Though I kept her from falling off the ladder, I was not able to prevent her leg from sliding between the rungs. So, learn this lesson: If you have to take elderly people down a ground ladder, pay close attention to their foot placement on each rung, all the way down. Don't assume because they safely manage a few rungs they know what they're doing.

The way we were situated, we did not have the leverage to lift her back up onto the ladder. I told my other two firefighters to grab a second 26-foot ladder and place it next to ours. I figured the four of us would be able to lift her. That proved to be impossible. The two firefighters on the second ladder could not reach over enough to lift the victim without the risk of falling themselves. Long story short, we ended up staying on the ladder for the duration of the fire. After the fire was out, my members entered her unit from the hallway. It took three firefighters to lift her back into the window with me pushing from below. The elderly lady was in pain, but she did no

Richard Marinucci

As I write this column, Spring Training is in full swing (pun intended). When you read this column, Major League Baseball will be a month or so into its regular season.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with moving water. Well, when I go to a major league ballgame, I notice that about halfway through the game the grounds crew races out onto the field with a hose. The purpose is to reset the infield for the rest of the game and minimize dust and such. There are between six and 10 people moving the hose onto the field and into position. They go quickly so that the game is not unduly delayed.

Water Delivery

Wouldn't it be nice if you had six to 10 people to move the hose around on a fire scene? Good luck with that one. But if we look at the example above, we can understand the reason for that number of people. The hose is heavy, and they have to be in a hurry so as to not impact the flow of the game. A cynical question might be to ask why that is more important than deploying hose during a true emergency. We know the answer to that, but maybe there are some things we can learn to better understand the challenges of delivering water under fire conditions.

Based on my rough calculations, there are approximately 5,887 cubic inches of water in 100 feet of 2½-inch hose. This translates to approximately 25 gallons of water. The weight of one gallon of water is about 8.33 pounds. That means that there are more than 200 pounds of water in the 100 feet of hose. This does not include the weight of the hose. So a 200-foot length of hose would be more than 400 pounds. That is a lot of mass to move in ideal conditions.

How often do you have ideal conditions? For the past few months, the cold and snow have added to the workload of deploying hose. Walking through a few feet of snow to get a line to the C side takes a lot of effort. Even without snow, the friction on the ground adds to the force required to move the line after it is filled with water. So to maneuver 200 feet of 2½-inch hose when it is charged requires whatever personnel you have to work with who have to move well more than 400 pounds plus additional friction from the ground or whatever may be adding to the challenge.

Though this background information may seem trivial to many, it offers some information to consider when selecting tactics and strategy. If water is your choice for extinguishment (as opposed to removing the oxygen or fuel), then the objective is to get the water to the base of the fire. It does no good to squirt smoke or pour water onto shingles or bricks. The water must reach the fire. This can happen by properly deploying the streams or waiting for the fire to reach stationary lines.

I have heard the axiom many times that if you have a big fire you need big water. This would be hard to dispute. But I would offer a couple of points for you to consider before you automatically or arbitrarily employ this tactic. First and foremost, train your personnel to recognize what truly is a big fire requiring the big guns. This is challenging for those who do not go to a lot of "big ones." It requires study of the trade and learning from others. It requires understanding the properties of water, fire flow, fire load, and building construction. It requires learning as much as possible from recent research conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL). A review of the basics of fire science (physics and chemis