Motorola Minitor VI two-tone voice pager is small, light, and tough. Its improved receiver is designed for maximum range and intelligibility. It records and manages up to 16 minutes of messages, allowing users to replay, skip, fast forward, rewind, lock, unlock, and delete messages for quick review and prioritization of calls. Call alerts, memo announcements, and vibrate types can be customized by call address so users know immediately who is paging them. Available in an intrinsically safe model for use around flammable gases, aerosols, and particulates, the pager is built to be small and unobtrusive yet tough enough to withstand heat, smoke, grime, water spray, and many other challenges in the field. The Minitor VI comes with a rechargeable battery that will last several days. It also offers an alkaline battery tray so users can change batteries in the field. www.motorolasolutions.com, 847-576-5000

Kussmaul USB Dual Charging port, Model #091-219, affords users two charging ports with a maximum output of three amps. The USB charging port is designed for easy installation and is reverse-polarity-protected. The built-in LED indicates when the device is powered. The Dual Port can be connected to a 12-volt switched ignition or directly to the battery. The unit provides a quick and easy way to recharge electronic devices in a vehicle, including iPads and iPhones, at the same time. www.kussmaul.com, 631-567-0314

Zico QUIC-MOUNT Premixed Can Holder, Model QM-PMH-1, helps prevent cans from rolling, falling, leaking, or puncturing. The heavy-duty steel and aluminum design keeps cylindrical cans up to 32 ounces (3 3⁄8 inches in diameter) secured and organized where firefighters need them most. Suitable for use with various premixes, rapid tool guard, silicone spray, bug spray, WD-40, and more. The bracket mounts to nearly any flat surface and is powder-coated yellow for maximum durability and can protection. Hang the bracket from the compartment wall to save space on the shelf below. www.ziamatic.com, 800-711-FIRE

Hansen International roll-up door offers many features at an affordable price, including double wall extruded anodized aluminum box lath construction; anodized sand blast finish aluminum box lath that retains its color and promotes the adhesion of graphics and decals; interlocking end caps; available adjustable track mounted door ajar switch on mounting plate; one-piece flocked surface on side seals; PVC seal between each mechanical box lath; seven-year warranty; adjustable counterbalance that allows for the operator to lift the door approximately halfway before it is "assisted" by the counterbalance; and ergonomically designed handles that allow gloved hands easy access and operation. www.hansenint.com, 800-850-8070

Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 tablet is a rugged seven-inch fanless tablet with a fourth-generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor. Running Windows 8.1 Pro, the Toughpad FZ-M1 c

By Alan M. Petrillo

Bernalillo County (NM) Fire & Rescue has to protect an enormous coverage area-1,169 square miles encompassing diverse kinds of terrain and a wide range of structure types and densities.

The county surrounds the city of Albuquerque, and among the areas it covers is a large, mostly rural section on the east side of the Sandia and Manzanos Mountains that has a relatively limited water supply.

Darrell R. Lindsey, Bernalillo County's deputy chief, says the answer to the department's pumper needs in that part of the district was a fleet of four Pierce Velocity 4x4 pumpers, purchased over a four-year period. Bernalillo County Fire & Rescue expects to take delivery of its fourth Velocity 4x4 pumper this Spring.

"We run all Pierce Quantum pumpers on the city (west) side of the mountains," says Lindsey. "But because we get a fair amount of snow on the east side, and roads can be gravel and pretty tight in some places, we went with the Pierce Velocity 4x4 pumpers."

Bernalillo County (NM) Fire & Rescue turned to Pierce Manufacturing to build four Pierce Velocity 4x4 pumpers over the course of four years. All the pumpers (third unit delivered in 2013 depicted here), are on 184½-inch wheelbases with 31-foot overall lengths and are powered by Detroit 500-hp DD13 diesel engines and Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmissions. (Photo courtesy of Bernalillo County Fire & Rescue.)

Two Distinct Response Areas

Bernalillo County Fire & Rescue has four stations on the rural east side of its district, each housing a Pierce 4x4 pumper, while Pierce Quantum pumpers and aerials are stationed in the eight stations located in the urban areas of the district.

"Because the Quantums sit so tall, Pierce doesn't build a four-wheel drive on that frame, so we first looked at the Pierce Arrow and Saber models," Lindsey says. "But, we concluded that with all the equipment we carry on our pumpers and the need for an emergency medical service (EMS) cabinet inside the crew cab, the Velocity 4x4 would be the model for us."

Lindsey points out that the Velocity is set up as a six-person cab with three self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) seats, the driver's seat, and two fold-down forward-facing seats. "The cab is easy to get into and out of because of its larger doors," he notes, "and the vehicle rides very well for a four-wheel drive. It's really built for the firefighters, with the big roomy cab and the one-piece window that gives great visibility for the driver and officer. And, the doghouse inside the cab sits fairly low, which allows for good visibility across the crew cab and out the front for the firefighters in the back."

The Bernalillo County Pierce pumpers carry Waterous 2,000-gpm pumps, 500-gallon water tanks, and 25-gallon foam cells, along with FoamPro 2002 single-agent proportioning systems. (Photo courtesy of Bernalillo County Fire & Rescue.)

One of the options that Bernalillo County chose was to have an EMS compartment installed on the back wall between the two flip-down seats. "T

By Chris Mc Loone

In recent years, there has been much focus on seating for firefighters inside apparatus.

Firefighters come in all shapes and sizes, and they all carry pieces of equipment with them in their turnout gear, including hand tools as well as personal escape systems. All of these things add to the space a firefighter takes up when he sits in the apparatus. Additionally, recent emissions control requirements have increased the size of the "doghouse" between the driver and officer or rear occupants.

With all these factors impacting the space firefighters have to get in, sit down, don SCBA, and put on their seat belts, interest in apparatus seating is understandable. Anthropometric studies, which have resulted in new seat belt designs intended to make them easier to use, have focused on the average size of firefighters in and out of their personal protective equipment (PPE). Additionally, seating manufacturers have taken a look at what firefighters are carrying in or on their PPE to begin designing seating around today's firefighters.

The Valor Firefighting Seat features the Valor SCBA pack support straps-magnetic straps that keep the straps in the right location for easy access. Valor is also the only seat on the market which has a center release handle that releases both the seat belt and the SCBA bottle. (Photo courtesy of Valor Firefighting Seats.)

Department Demands

Although every fire department is different, there are commonalities to what they are demanding from their apparatus seating. "Ultimate durability," says Joe Mirabile, vice president, business development, Valor Firefighter Seats. "Firefighters are quite possibly the toughest operators of gear on the planet. They put the seats through a lot, and the seats need to be able to stand up to the beating they will take. The upholstery itself needs to be strong and a very tight fit to avoid catching on equipment or ripping." Mirable adds that the seats should be easy to get into including belt safety restraint and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) pack straps.

In terms of ingress and egress, Paul Bostrom, vice president of sales and marketing at H. O. Bostrom, says departments are looking for SCBA brackets that automatically lock when an SCBA is pushed into the seat and releases with an easy release handle built into the front of the seat cushion. Bostrom also lists many other items fire departments are demanding:

• Seat adjustability, including fore/aft, height, back recline, and seat tilt adjustment.
• Driver seats that adjust to fit all size occupants.
• Officer seat adjustment, including SCBA seats with back recline and fore/aft adjustment.
• Crew seats with flip-up seat cushions to save space.
• Integral three-point seat belts mounted in the seats.
• Air suspension seats to absorb road shocks.
• Durable trim material.
• Low sewn seams on seat cushions.
• Ease of serviceability without special upholstery tools.
• Air bag integration.

Mirabile adds, "Once at the fire, adrenalin is going, and the seat needs to be as easy to get out of as possible. This is why we created the Valor SCBA pack support straps-magnetic st

By Alan M. Petrillo

Goodfellow Air Force Base, located inside the city limits of San Angelo, Texas, serves as the home for basic and advanced firefighting training for each branch of the United States military services through its Louis F. Garland Department of Defense Fire Academy.

The Fire Academy plays host to 15 advanced fire protection courses and an extremely intensive fire protection apprentice course and instructs individuals from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and civil service employees from the Department of Defense. Courses include the Fire Protection Apprentice Course, Rescue Technician I and II, Hazmat Technician T-t-T, WMD Technician, Instructor III, Inspector, fire officer courses, Fire Marshal, and the P-23 distance learning course.

Equipment

Air Force Tech Sergeant Kevin Coughlin has been an instructor at the Fire Academy for nearly four years and teaches Block 4 structural fireground operations. He points out that the Fire Academy has 17 structural firefighting pieces of apparatus, mostly made by Pierce Manufacturing Inc. and KME. "The pumpers range from 2012 to late 1980s models," he says. "Typically the pumpers have 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm)pumps and a mix of 750- and 500-gallon water tanks. All the vehicles carry foam because we train and use foam predominantly at the fire academy, and some of the vehicles are set up as Class III wildland rigs."

Students from the 312th Training Squadron at Goodfellow AFB put out a fire in the Helo Trainer at the Louis F. Garland Department of Defense Fire Academy. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force by Senior Airman Michael Smith.)

Coughlin points out the newest pumper, built by Pierce, has a CAFS system, two 1¾-inch hose crosslays, and a hosebed filled with five-inch large-diameter hose (LDH). The wildland Type III vehicles, which have heavy-duty all-terrain tires and are lifted seven inches, are all KME-manufactured, he notes, and serve as wildland urban interface type structural rigs.

"We keep the students busy in the structural fireground operations block," Coughlin says. "Block 4 lasts 15 days, which includes three lecture days and 12 days spent working outside. The students have 43 hands-on objectives where they are evaluated and face nine different live fires in six days." Every student practices every position in firefighting, working in teams of two or four, he adds, practicing evolutions and honing their skills before they are evaluated at each position.

"We have ten burn trainers, including two structural firefighting trainers, each with three stories and three live burn rooms," Coughlin says. "They all are propane-fired and allow us to give both high and low rollover of flames."

Other burn trainers include those for vehicle, dumpster, and above-ground propane storage tank simulators. For wildland fire simulations, Coughlin says that academy instructors burn hay in a concrete area surrounded by a sprinkler system. "The students get to do defensive fire protection work using control lines," he notes.

Besides its live-burn training structures, the fire academy has a structural training building it uses in the apprentice and advanced fire protection courses. The lightweight structural trainer was required to train students to breach, search, and shore up light frame structures involved in natural disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes. The trainer has walls that are bowed to simu

By Raul A. Angulo

Two of my most memorable calls are not as spectacular as you would think.

When I was a young firefighter working a shift at Engine 16 in the Greenlake District of Seattle, Washington, my wife came in to make the crew her excellent chicken-big shell pasta dish with broccoli covered in a creamy Alfredo mushroom sauce-one of my favorite dishes to date. Just as we sat down for dinner, the bell hit for a full response and we never got a chance to eat it-maybe that is why it's memorable. The Masonic Temple was just two blocks away from the station, and I knew we would be first in. When we pulled up, flames were blowing out a second-story window in the alley.

The driver hooked up to the hydrant, the officer did a radio size-up, and I pulled the attack line. I knew the building was dark, so I also grabbed a pickhead ax. I was all by myself. Back in 1985, we didn't have any real training in forcible entry. You just forced entry the best way you could and used whatever it took. We had pry bars, but the halligan and the K-tools didn't show up in Seattle until about 1996. The A-tool or officer's tool showed up two years ago.

The front door to the Masonic Temple was an old, arch-shaped, ornate wooden door. It looked like it came from an ancient gothic church. Not knowing any better at the time, I knew I had to "chop" my way through this door and I was going right through the middle. After about five heavy duty whacks, the door flung open. I remember thinking, "Wow! That was cool-just like in the movies." In reality, the lock probably just gave way because I had no idea what I was doing. I needlessly destroyed a beautiful piece of wood. But I advanced the line up the stairs and put out the kitchen fire in the auditorium before anyone else backed me up. I've put out a lot of fires over the years, but damaging that door unnecessarily still bothers me to this day.

Another memorable door breach was when I working on Engine 13 in the Beacon Hill District. We were dispatched to a suicide. As I led my crew up the stairs to the front porch, we could see the patient through the window. The adrenalin kicked in, and since I was leading the charge, I decided to be John Wayne and kick the front door in without missing a step. Whatever locking mechanism they had in place ricocheted me off the door and almost off the front porch! I told my three gargantuans to break the door down and they knocked in the entire door frame. We forced entry but we were too late.

Both of these stories have stayed with me because there are better, more professional techniques to force entry with minimal damage. We just hadn't been taught. Today, it's different. The halligan and the flathead ax, traditionally known as "the irons," are married together and carried on every fire apparatus. Training on forcible entry techniques is taken more seriously in our department and included as a component of our annual performance evaluations. The incident priority acronym-RECEO/VS: Rescue, Exposures, Confinement, Extinguishment, Overhaul/Ventilation, and Salvage-can't even begin until you gain access to the occupancy.

Once you size the W-Tool to the horizontal width of the door, move it up to the strongest part of the door in close proximity of the lock. Pump the handle until you have the W-Tool tightly wedged against the door jambs. (Photos courtesy of the Weddle Tool Company.)

The W-Tool

One of the coolest tools I've seen at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) is the W-Tool by the Weddle Tool Company of Bunker Hill, West Virginia. The founder, inventor, and CEO is Dave Weddle, who