A memorial service will be held at the Crossroads Neighborhood Church, 7555 Old Military Road NE., Bremerton on Dec. 12, 2013 at 3 p.m.

Memorial remembrances may be made to the Central Kitsap Medic One Foundation.

While teaching my daughter to drive, I racked my brain to think of all the different things she would need to be aware of safe driving. Not wanting to overwhelm a new driver with a hundred rules, I narrowed them down to 4 things that she could always apply. Those rules became:  
 
1. Don’t hit anyone 
2. Don’t let anyone hit you 
3. Reduce speed for conditions 
4. Don’t Tailgate

The Washington Fire Chiefs regrets to announce the passing of former Fire Chief Steve Bigelow.

Chief Bigelow started in 1980, first as Fire Chief of Kitsap County Fire District 15 and then as Fire Chief of Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue after District 15 merged with District 1 in 1999.  He served as Fire Chief until his retirement in 2001.

Chief Bigelow impacted the local community in many ways, from serving as President of the Kitsap County Fire Chiefs Association, to coaching local youth soccer teams, and being an active member of the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce.  One project that was held in particular high regard to Chief Bigelow was his role in helping to form the Kitsap Readiness Response Center...

Alan M. Petrillo

The Bel Air (MD) Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) is one of the busiest volunteer departments in Maryland, covering an 80-square-mile area as first-due response and providing mutual aid to three counties. Last year Bel Air ran 6,495 emergency medical service (EMS) calls with four first-line advanced life support (ALS) ambulances.

Specific Need

Bel Air VFD, centrally located in Harford County, operates out of three stations and averages nearly 24 EMS calls a day, so quality, ease of maintenance, and reliability were chief concerns when the department looked to purchase a new ambulance, says Greg Sentman, the department's ambulance committee chairman. "PL Custom gave us the option of using a 12-volt hardwired electrical system instead of a multiplex system," Sentman says. "Because of the number of ambulance calls we run, the time required for service, as well as the ease of getting parts for a 12-volt system, we decided not to go with a multiplex system."

(1) The Bel Air (MD) Volunteer Fire Department chose PL Custom Emergency Vehicles to build three Type 1 ambulances to upgrade its fleet. (Photos courtesy of PL Custom Emergency Vehicles.)

Sentman notes, "It's easier to go to our local automotive electrical shop and buy a $10 relay rather than take an ambulance out of service to run it to a dealer's shop in Baltimore to adjust the multiplex." The onsite mechanic that PL Custom offered also was a selling point because his location was only about two hours away from Bel Air's main station.

Rig Trifecta

Shortly after Bel Air awarded the ambulance contract to PL Custom, the department increased its order to two identical ALS ambulances. Ultimately, Bel Air VFD ended up ordering a third rig from PL Custom, which is currently being built.

Chad Newsome, PL Custom's national sales manager, says that his firm had spoken with Bel Air in the past but that it was never able to get the department as a customer. "DPC Emergency Equipment, in Marydel, Maryland and Delaware, is the one that made this happen," Newsome says. "DPC was able to sell them the first ambulance, then Bel Air ordered a second, and now we are building a third for them. It's gratifying any time you are able to win a new account, but more so when they come back and order more trucks."

(2) Bel Air opted to include a squad bench in its ambulances so their interiors were similar to other ambulances in its fleet.

The ambulances are duplicate rigs, Newsome notes, with only small refinements among them and no wholesale changes. Each vehicle is built on a 2013 International 4300 M7 chassis and powered by a 300-hp International MaxxForce 7 diesel engine and an Allison 2200 EVS automatic transmission.

Jeff Hawkins, DPC Emergency Equipment's sales and marketing coordinator, says he brought a demo unit to Bel Air early in the purchasing process and after the specs were put out, PL Custom was one of three bidders for the contract. "It was a fairly clean bid spec where they wanted to duplicate their current interior layout but wanted the truck on a 12-volt electrical system," Hawkins says. "We were able to do that for the

Chris Mc Loone

CM: How has the ACCESS pump module been received thus far?

ST: The ACCES module has been very well received. At FDIC we had very good reviews of that product and we've continued to send out specifications to fire departments that want to write this product into their specs. The biggest thing that intrigued the folks in the fire service was the access-the ability to lift it up and get inside and do repairs without a whole lot of "turning yourself into a pretzel" and for not that much additional money. Some actuators, a hinge, and some adjustments-you have to split the module at the point just below the hose trays. Based on that, the interest has been tremendous.

CM: What do you see as the biggest issue in the fire service right now, and how does Waterous work to address it?

ST: I think the biggest issue in the fire service right now continues to be lack of revenues in fire departments in North America. I think Canada is doing better than the United States as far as that goes. How are we helping with that? We continue to work hard at Waterous to keep the cost down in our product and come up with innovations that provide the fire suppression capability in the pumping part of the apparatus but keep the cost down.

CM: What do you think is the most important Waterous innovation for the fire service during recent years?

ST: I really believe that, and it's not an innovation in the truest sense, but from a pumping standpoint, from the fire suppression standpoint, it is compressed air foam and the improvements in that part of fire suppression or the pumping part of the apparatus. In particular, our new ONE STEP, and that's a Waterous innovation. Overall, CAFS has really taken more center stage. I think from the standpoint of innovation, what has been done with compressed air foam from the actual foams-they are vastly improved-proportioning, again vastly improved, and ONE STEP and its ability to mix the three components in CAFS-water, foam, and air-most efficiently and come out with a product that is far superior to straight water.

CM: What's next for Waterous?

ST: Waterous is going to continue to make improvements to our products. We continue to improve where we are headed with our ONE STEP product in compressed air foam, and then electronic pump controls.

CM: What keeps you up at night?

ST: Being director of sales and marketing here at Waterous, what keeps me up at night is really keeping business coming in the door here at Waterous. Over the past four or five years, the economy has really been a problem. It's been coming up, so we've seen improvement there. And, I'm very excited about what's coming up for the future and so business is coming in the door, but the main thing that keeps me up at night is keeping the shops busy for our employees.