Alan M. Petrillo
The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) manages a statewide fire and rescue program, providing Type 1 pumpers built by HME Inc. on loan to local fire departments for use in their districts, while requiring those departments to staff the vehicles for the state when needed.
Cal OES purchases the vehicles fully equipped, then assigns the pumpers to local governments and fire agencies on temporary-use agreements where the state never relinquishes control of the vehicles. "We continue to maintain the vehicles and twice a year do an onsite inspection of the pumpers to be sure they are maintained according to our standards," says Kim Zagaris, state fire chief for Cal OES. "The agencies agree to staff the vehicles anywhere and anytime that we need them, whether in state or across the nation. We provide reimbursement for their staff members, but there's a clause in the agreement that says they may have to staff the pumper for free."
Mitch Willoughby, national sales and marketing director for HME, says his company recently was awarded a second multiyear contract to supply Cal OES with Type 1 Model 18 pumpers. "Our first contract was for five years, and we produced 269 apparatus," Willoughby says. "We built 49 Type 1 pumpers for Cal OES, 164 Type 3 wildland pumpers for CAL FIRE, and 56 other products through a cooperative purchasing program with the state." Willoughby estimates that about 95 percent of the Cal OES fleet of vehicles was built by HME.
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(1) Cal OES has a temporary-use agreement with the Sacramento (CA) Fire Department, where Sacramento uses and staffs this HME Model 18 Type 1 pumper. Cal OES has 114 of these pumpers in its fleet. (Photos courtesy of the Sacramento Fire Department.) |
System Cornerstone
Zagaris says the program has been around since 1950, when it was run under the federal Civil Defense Program. "Back then, we purchased 100 pumpers and matched that value with state money," he points out. "We are the only state in the country still running this program-it is the cornerstone of California's fire and rescue system."
Besides managing the state fire and rescue program, Cal OES also provides urban search and rescue (USAR) resources for local and federal partners, has Type 1 swift water rescue teams, manages a fleet of water tenders (tankers), oversees the fire school program for cities in the state, and serves as the homeland security agency for California's 38 million people. Between 2008 and this year, the agency was known as the California Emergency Services Agency (Cal EMA) but has since reverted back to its original name.
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(2) The Sacramento (CA) Fire Department HME pumper is on a short front overhang (SFO) four-door cab and chassis and carries a Hale 1,250-gpm pump, an 850-gallon United Plastic Fabricating water tank, and a 20-gallon foam tank. |
The Fleet
Zagaris points out that Cal OES currently has a large fleet spread out around the state. "We have 114 Type 1 pumpers, 15 Type 3 wildland pumpers, 12 Type 1 water tenders, 13 swift water vehicles, 18 rescue system vehicles, six communications units, and a variety of command and other vehicles," he says. "Our Type 1 pumpers built by HME ar