GLOBE MANUFACTURING COMPANY kicked off its partnership with the Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund at FDIC 2014. With its supplier partner, 3M, Globe invited attendees to try its latest turnout gear on the Globe Firefighter Athletic Circuit and committed to make a $10 donation to the Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund in each firefighter's name. 3M matched each donation. In total, Globe and 3M donated $20,000 to the fund from the Globe Firefighter Athletic Circuit at FDIC. "We believe in the mission of the Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund and have welcomed them into the Globe family," says Rob Freese, senior vice president of marketing at Globe Manufacturing Company. "Globe has always given back to the fire service, and we are delighted to be able to help firefighters and departments through this worthy cause and hard working group of volunteers."
E-ONE recently debuted its redesigned Quest™ custom cab with more aggressive exterior styling and an array of user-focused improvements. The redesigned Quest offers improved ergonomics with lower and wider cab steps that allow for an easier, smoother egress. Although, the Quest has always offered a 3,728-square-inch, two-piece windshield, E-ONE lowered the center console and raised the overhead console for increased viewing area. Officer-side kick plates now feature strategically placed recesses to create up to 346 cubic inches of additional legroom. The rear-facing crew seats were designed with custom storage areas beneath the seat.
E-ONE also recently announced that Jim Salmi, with more than 30 years of aerial engineering and first responder industry experience, has been appointed to the position of director of aerial product development. Most recently, Salmi spent 10 years with Spartan ERV and served in several leadership roles including general manager for aerials, president and general manager, and founder and general manager of Crimson Fire aerials.
ELKHART BRASS has announced the promotion of Eric Combs to vice president of marketing and new product development. His new role will be heavily involved with developing market and product strategies that allow Elkhart Brass to better meet the future challenges of its customers. His industry experience supported by a technical and marketing background provides a unique perspective to lead the marketing and product development teams at Elkhart Brass. In 11 years with Elkhart Brass, Combs has held the positions of product design engineer, product manager, marketing manager, and director of marketing.
HME AHRENS-FOX, has introduced its own aerial product line. Featured is the HAF80L 80-foot aerial ladder and the HA51T 51-foot Tele-Stream. The HAF80L, built on a custom HME 1871-W® chassis, incorporates a wide range of innovations that include durable hot-dipped galvanized outriggers, patent-pending dual body-access ladders, joystick ladder controls, stainless steel pedestal, ergonomic guard rails for optimized turntable workspace, patent-pending LED ladder-loading indicators and optional patent-pending LED rung alignment indicators, and an electronic fluid-level monitoring system.
The HAF51T, built on a custom HME SFO® chassis, has a short overall length of 28 feet with a turn radius of 24 feet. The HAF51T features a joystick boom control, A-frame stabilizers with minimal 10-foot spread, patent-pending 23-foot boom with 3,000-pound recovery winch, steel telescopic booms construction, integrated cab tilt and ladder emergency backup system, and an electronic fluid-level monitoring system.
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Posted: Jun 9, 2014
By Scott Freeman
Fire suppression in "snow country" is more demanding and dangerous than anywhere else because of slick, dark roads that lead to five times the call ratio compared with nonsnow and ice areas.
Fire hydrants in snow country present unique challenges. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards require hydrants every 1,000 feet for buildings of less than 3,600 square feet, and the duration of water flow must be two hours or more. The first-arriving fire apparatus must establish water flow within four minutes. How do you keep the hydrant accessible all the time when a common snowstorm can dump five feet of snow in a 48-hour period?
Then there are the types of snow: heavy and full of water; light like in Valdez, Alaska; or the kind snowplows make-crushed snow and ice or what some call concrete snow. The latter is the greatest eraser of all your shovel work. After a long day of digging out hydrants, the snow plow goes by, and now you know you have been shoveling just for show-and-tell to the public.
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The Hydrant Snorkel attaches directly to the
steamer port. The two side ports are left
unaffected. The extended wrench comes straight
off the hydrant nut and turns exactly the same
way. The Storz fitting attaches directly to the
supply line. (Photos courtesy of Hydrant
Snorkel, LLC.)
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Questions around why, how, and at what cost firefighters dig out hydrants come to mind. The public thinks the fire department is responsible for clearing fire hydrants. Let's crunch the numbers invested on an annual basis. The average paid firefighter makes about $45,000 a year plus benefits, or $38 an hour. On average, it takes 20 minutes to dig and move to the next hydrant. Three hydrants per hour times eight hours equals 21 hydrants per firefighter per day for $304 (taking breaks and lunch into account). South Lake Tahoe, California, has 840 fire hydrants. That's 40 days and $12,160 to dig fire hydrants just once. In most locations, the snow comes and goes like the tide. One week you could have five feet of snow and the next week 12 inches. This brutal dance goes on for six months or more. To dig out all the fire hydrants in South Lake Tahoe twice a month for six months, it would cost $145,920. That is still not providing 24/7 hydrant availability. That is just 12 times in six months. Keep in mind with budget cutbacks comes limited staffing. So, the solution to quick response times to a medical, car wreck, or fire call is to have the squad, medical unit, or fire apparatus with them all day out in the cold.
ORIGIN
The idea of having access to more water came after the Hoodland Fire District #74 in Welches, Oregon, used its apparatus's 500 to 1,000 gallons of water while waiting for water tenders to arrive at multiple incidents. Being a mixed department meant that water shuttles could take 15 minutes to show up, depending on qualified operator availability. The district had to plan on using a quick attack blitz or go defensive. With the Hydrant Snorkel, it can now lay in year round and flow at whatever gallons per minute (gpm) a hydrant can supply.
The snorkel allows fire officers to make the correct choice for how to fight the fire. Knowing that it is not allowing the weather to change its water supply allows room to concentrate on other aspects of the fire attack like arriving safe and setting up the scene.
Hoodland Fire, like many small-town departments around this country, likes to win. And, there is always one person, in Hoodland's case Lieutenant (Ret.) John Creel, who if left to his own
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