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Posted: Jul 1, 2014

WSFAS June 2014 Newsletter

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Posted: Jun 30, 2014

Wildland Urban Interface Apparatus Assuming Larger Role in Many Department Fleets

By Alan M. Petrillo

Wildland and urban interface (WUI) vehicles are maturing into rigs that are playing an important role in fire departments faced with the challenging issues confronting them in WUI territory.

The dual ability of fighting either a structure fire or a wildland fire characterizes the typical WUI piece of apparatus. But, many variations on the type are being used, depending on the needs of the department, the budget available, and the lay of the land the vehicle needs to protect.

Record Year

"It's been bonkers-we've been building more wildland and urban interface trucks than in any other single year," says Doug Kelley, wildland product manager for KME. "The drought that's been going on in the western part of the country for years now encompasses much of the West Coast from California, Oregon, and Washington all the way back to Texas. Fires are getting bigger and hotter because trees and plants are drier, and fire departments are responding to the need to protect people who move into these dry areas."

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1 KME built this 4x4 WUI pumper on a four-person cab International 7400 commercial chassis for Laury's Station Fire Department, in North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy of KME.)

KME builds a full line of apparatus for the fire service, Kelley notes, from Type 6 specialized wildland trucks through Type 3 medium-duty chassis wildland vehicles carrying 500-gallon water tanks or more, to WUI Type 1 pumpers with up to 750 gallons of water that can function as both structural and wildland units.

One of KME's more popular WUI models is its Ridgerunner, according to Kelley, a type of vehicle that's being used all over the country. "We recently built a Ridgerunner for a fire department in semirural Pennsylvania that has a wide range of hazards in its district-highways to farmland to industrial-so it needed a multiresponse vehicle," Kelley says. "We built the truck on a 4x4 International Navistar 7400 chassis with a 1,500-gpm Hale pump, 500-gallon water tank, and pump-and-roll capability. One of the compartments carries the department's hydraulic rescue tools, while another is dedicated to general firefighting tools."

Kelley points out that most departments want to perform some type of rolling fire attack with their WUI rigs. "They want the ability to do that with a turret on the front of the vehicle and with ground sprays," he says. KME's Whipline turret, developed in conjunction with Elkhart Brass, is gaining in popularity, he notes. "Whipline is fully operable from the cab and is quicker than the traditional electrically controlled nozzle. It's a manual valve that moves as fast as you can move your hand."

Popular to the North

Paul Christiansen, marketing director for Ferrara Fire Apparatus, says his company also has seen a lot of WUI market penetration in the western states but also in the Northeast. "Most of the vehicles have pump-and-roll capability, driven by a diesel auxiliary pump," Christiansen says. "They have a front bumper turret and monitor and usually have a hose reel or small trash line on the bumper too. Usually it's at least a 12-inch bumper extension carrying 50 to 75 feet of 1¾-inch hose, although some departments use one-inch forestry hose."

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2 The Smith Valley (NV) Fire Department turned to Ferrara Fire Apparatus to build this Type 3 WUI pumper on an International 7400 commercial Read more
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Posted: Jun 30, 2014

Never Stop Talking About the Past

Chris Mc Loone   Chris Mc Loone

When I joined the fire service in 1993, fire company veterans at the time were not that far removed from riding the back step.

The closest I ever got to riding the back step was standing up in the jump seat area of our '81 American LaFrances, which was still permissible at the time. I started thinking of this recently after a conversation I had with my former chief.

It was meeting night, and a fire company member had recently completed a project he took on to gather existing manufacturer nameplates we had and research and purchase nameplates of all the apparatus we've had through years. The collage he came up with, all mounted on a piece of diamond plate, or tread plate for the spec writers and readers out there, was pretty impressive. This former chief is the one I joined under, and he was chief for most of my 20 years in the fire company. As we admired the work, he would point at a nameplate and say, "I rode that one, and that one, and that one, but not that one … I wasn't around for that one." The names on the collage include Garford, Palmer-Singer, Saulsbury, American LaFrance, and Ward LaFrance. Besides the '81 American LaFrances I'm sure most are tired of hearing me mention by now, and which I won't stop doing, we ran a 1923 American LaFrance. We paid cash for it, and it was the first brand new apparatus we owned.

We used that truck until 1951. This is remarkable to me and is really a testament to the workmanship of fire apparatus even then. My former chief rode the truck at least once in his childhood, "somewhere between 1947 and 1951," he said.

The conversation turned to changes in apparatus in recent years, and I remarked that for our newest members, those who joined in the past 10 to 15 years, there aren't many differences between the trucks we're building now and the ones they came into the fire service with. They have only known fully enclosed cabs with SCBA in the jump seats and seat belts for all. Speaking of SCBA, they've only known fully integrated PASS alarms, not the ones we needed to remember to turn on ourselves. They've known regulators that attach directly to their face pieces vs. a hose coming off the face piece connecting to a regulator at our chest. They came in with and have only seen five-inch LDH dropped from a hydrant. They've only known 1¾-inch attack lines, and the booster reel is something that rarely gets used.

Do they necessarily need to know every aspect of the SCBA I used 20 years ago? Of course not. I'm more concerned with them using what we have now properly. However, knowing what came before them is still important. It's only when we understand where came from that we can better understand how we arrived where we are and plot a course for the future.

I found myself wondering how our newest members will look back at their first 20 years. What will their stories be? Hopefully, they'll be talking about the old days when you actually had to hold a thermal imaging camera in your hand, when ICs kept track of a company's location with magnets instead of on a laptop or tablet screen in real time, and when SCBA weighed more.

The key is to keep talking. The kitchen table at the firehouse is a great place to discuss tactics, lessons learned, and recent events in the fire service. It's also a great time for newer members to listen to seasoned members. There is also a lot to learn from war stories and about how things used to be done. It not only provides newer firefighters with an appreciation for what they have now, it also preserves the history of the fire department. Word of mouth has preserved our history for hundreds of years.

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Posted: Jun 30, 2014

Gaining Municipal Support for Multiple Apparatus Replacement

By Dennis Mueller

Since the recession of 2008, fire departments across the country have had to cut their budgets and postpone replacing their aging and failing fleets.

My agency, the Lake Havasu City (AZ) Fire Department (LHCFD), is no different. Yet in May 2013, our city council approved the simultaneous purchase of four new Pierce Velocity 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pumpers and one new Pierce 105-foot aerial quint. The order cost $2.6 million, and the new apparatus were delivered in May 2014.

You might be wondering, "How was the LHCFD able to replace its aging and failing fleet when funds remain an issue for most communities?" or "How did the LHCFD convince community leaders it was time to purchase five new apparatus-half its fleet?" This article describes the plan we developed to obtain the necessary funding for the apparatus and to secure city leaders' commitment to a 10-year replacement cycle going forward. We began six months prior to the May 2013 budget talks. Below is a description of that plan, which easily can be adapted by other agencies for their use.

Step 1: Do Your Homework

Identify the apparatus that truly must be replaced. Create a list of the problems associated with each apparatus. Items such as the age of the apparatus, their mileage, and their maintenance records are good items to start with. Also include any incidents of unsafe or unreliable performance on this list.

Obtain preliminary bids from vendors for the number and type of apparatus you wish to purchase or lease.

Develop a list of stakeholders who will support your cause. This should include the mechanics who work on your apparatus, the vehicle maintenance foreman, the Public Works director, the finance manager of your community or department, your city manager, and possibly a key board member.

Step 2: Engage Your Mechanics

Meet with the mechanics who maintain your apparatus and obtain their support. They know the problems your fleet has, so they are credible sources of information. They should be able to identify which apparatus should be replaced-i.e. those that are unreliable and those that are about to fail.

Ask for the vehicle maintenance records and cost sheets for each apparatus over its lifetime. This information will tell you how much money has been spent to keep your fleet in service. An uptick in costs indicates it's time to start thinking about replacement.

Ask for a copy of your community's vehicle replacement program. This plan should identify when apparatus should be replaced and why. It will help identify apparatus slated to be replaced already. Study it and develop your presentation around the existing plan. If there is no replacement plan, help develop one.

Step 3: Meet with the Vehicle Maintenance Manager

The shop manager wants to run an efficient and effective shop, and you can help. Emphasize this common goal. Share the reports from the mechanics and point out the frequency that your apparatus are in and out of the shop. Show that in addition to reducing costs and increasing the shop's efficiencies, the new apparatus will free up the mechanics' time to work on other equipment in the city's fleet.

Review the estimated costs associated with future repairs and ask how you can help minimize them. This conversation will lead into a discussion of costs vs. benefits, which will open the door for bringing in your financial administrator.

Even if you don't have a shop or fleet manager in your community, you can review the same items with the manager of the garage or shop that maintains your apparatus. Be prepared for resistance. Private garage or shop owners may not like your plan to replace your apparatus because they are reaping the benefits of your aging and failing fleet. This will be especially true if you are their number one customer.

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Posted: Jun 16, 2014

WFM Meeting Minutes Now Available

WFM Meeting Minutes have been added to the document library.  Sign in with with your login (firstname.lastname) and your password (your WFC number) to view the minutes from 6/3/2014.

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