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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Posted: Jun 9, 2014
By Alan M. Petrillo
The Kingston (MA) Fire Department had very specific ideas in mind for its new rescue-pumper when it sat down to develop the specs.
The apparatus committee wanted an extruded aluminum body, low preconnects, an expansive hosebed, a big water tank, a pair of front bumper handlines, and plenty of storage space. The department found what it wanted through Ferrara Fire Apparatus.
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Ferrara Fire Apparatus built this rescue-pumper for the Kingston
(MA) Fire Department with a 1,500-gpm Hale QMax pump, a 750-
gallon water tank, and a 20-gallon foam tank. (Photos courtesy of
Kingston Fire Department unless otherwise noted.)
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Similar but Specialized
Mark Douglass, Kingston Fire's deputy chief, says the committee wanted the new vehicle to maintain many of the similarities of its other pumpers-pump, water tank, and foam tank size-but still be able to function in its specialized rescue-pumper role. "It's a paramedic engine, so we wanted to expand its storage capacity," Douglass says. "It's set up to carry four firefighters, and the back of the crew cab has a locking floor-to-ceiling emergency medical service (EMS) cabinet that holds our first-in medic bag, cardiac monitor, drug bag, and other EMS equipment. We drew up the design of the cabinet, sent the dimensions to Ferrara, and they accommodated us with everything we wanted."
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The Kingston Fire Department's rescue-pumper has an extended
bumper that carries 150 feet of preconnected 1¾-inch hose and
100 feet of preconnected one-inch forestry hose in separate
compartments.
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Specific Needs
One of the big issues for the department was the distance of the preconnects from the ground, Douglass points out. "Ferrara was able to put the preconnects low-70 inches from the bottom to the ground-for two preconnects of 225 feet of 1¾-inch hose," he says. "Also, our extended front bumper carries two preconnects: 150 feet of 1¾-inch hose and 100 feet of one-inch forestry hose."
The Ferrara rescue-pumper is built on an Igniter custom chassis, says Paul Christiansen, Ferrara's marketing director. "We put it on a short wheelbase of 190 inches and gave them a hose storage area that's 93 inches long around a 750-gallon L-shaped water tank," he says. "The vehicle has our extruded aluminum body; is powered by a Cummins 400-hp ISL9 diesel and an Allison 3000 EVS five-speed automatic transmission; and carries a Hale QMax 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) single-stage pump, the 750-gallon water tank, and a 20-gallon foam tank."
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The top of the rescue pumper carries a Command Light Knight 2
light tower and four coffin compartments for additional storage,
shown here flanking the hosebed that accommodates 1,400 feet of
four-inch LDH. (Photo courtesy of Ferrara Fire Apparatus.)
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Posted: Jun 9, 2014
By Richard Marinucci
It has been said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Today's fire apparatus continue to evolve into more diverse vehicles with more parts and functions.
Having reliable components in all aspects of fire apparatus is extremely important for a variety of reasons. Most obvious is the need to keep vehicles in service to deliver the services expected by the taxpayers and public. As vehicles have more functions, parts, and components, the chances of something not working as intended increase. Departments need to do more to learn how these items interact and what is needed to keep them operating. Regardless of which component is not functioning properly, anything that takes a vehicle out of service affects performance.
Reliability
Consider everything that goes into a modern piece of fire apparatus. There are the obvious parts of the chassis such as brakes, transmissions, engines, and everything else contributing to moving the vehicle down the road. Like most vehicles today, not just those designed for the fire service, fire apparatus are not quite as easy to work on as those from years gone. I think today's vehicles are so much better and reliable than those in the past, are much easier to operate, and do more.
Reliability is directly related to maintenance and following a manufacturer's instructions. Preventive maintenance is critical-not just for the core components of a vehicle but for anything that requires attention. Maintaining a vehicle is more than performing a lube, oil, and filter change. Pay attention to all critical components. The supplier will have suggestions regarding this. Failure to follow this guidance can void a warranty as well as lead to premature failure of a part. There are also recommendations within National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards that offer minimum maintenance requirements.
Case in Point
I recently attended a seminar presented by the deputy commissioner of the Detroit (MI) Fire Department. He related problems created by failing to follow NFPA recommendations regarding ladder and elevated platform testing. Because of many issues within the department, including extreme financial challenges, it did not perform much of this routine maintenance and testing. The result was that almost all of the ladder trucks were forced out of service until the department could complete the preventive maintenance. This placed an incredible strain on the organization's response capabilities. In this case, the old saying that "you can pay me now or pay me later" rang true. The department, no doubt, has faced and faces some significant financial challenges, but neglecting core responsibilities ended up costing more than just money. It impacted service for a period of time.
It is easy to dismiss this as just one of the byproducts of a city in deep distress. But in talking to others, there are many more departments that don't meet their obligations regarding components maintenance compared to the manufacturer's recommendations or NFPA standards. It could be for a variety of reasons-mostly financial-but it could also be time or having personnel capable of doing it. Regardless, failure to stay up on the maintenance of the entire vehicle and its components could prove detrimental.
Although not always possible, departments should consider required maintenance when specifying components for vehicles. If something requires time and money above the norm, then perhaps consider a part that requires less. Being maintenance-free has its advantages but may not be realistic. But, ease of routine and minimum required preventive maintenance also have their value.
Responsibility
In every organization, one individual should be assigned ultimate responsibility for vehicle maintenance-including components. Who will do it will vary by the size and budge
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