With regret, the Washington Fire Chiefs, and the Kent Fire Department Regional Fire Authority
 wishes to notify the public of the death of Engineer Robert W. “Bob” Schmidt.

Paul and Jeff came to our region March 30, as part of the series of presentations around the state hosted by the Washington Fire Chiefs. Our session fell on a warm, sunny Saturday at the start of Spring Break in our area. We only mustered a dozen attendees.  Many of us were not clear exactly what we were going to be presented, which didn’t help attendance either. Those of us who made it there experienced an excellent introduction into High Reliability Organizations and Just Culture concepts, with an emphasis on event investigation through deconstruction and the application of algorithms that promote consistent, transparent decisions about coaching and discipline by administrators. Decisions that recognize human fallibility, promote the understanding and recognition of at-risk behavior, and the appropriate use of discipline for reckless behavior, in an open learning environment...

The Washington Fire Chiefs EVIP Program is changing.  As most of you know, the EVIP program is due for re-accreditation in 2013.  Rather than update the existing program, the EVIP committee elected to go in a different direction. 

We have attempted to update the materials to make both the instructors' and students' jobs easier.  This new program has a section which spells out the annual continuing education requirements, such as:  Accident Case Reviews, Rodeo, Road Course, etc.  It also has an Instructor re-certification requirement whereby instructors must attend a Train-the-Trainer course once every five years...

Accurate information is not only important on the fire ground and the pre-hospital setting; it is paramount to the timely and safe repair of fire department vehicles. For that reason it is important to discuss this topic in detail explaining some of the common issues fire department mechanics face. The security of our careers as mechanics in the fire service relies on the ability to provide confident repairs that follow the manufacturer specification.  With so much riding on our work, we must be able to access the information we seek in a timely manner...

Alan M. Petrillo

The Bakersfield (CA) Fire Department covers a wide swath of territory within the Bakersfield, California, city limits-144 square miles with a population of more than 347,000 people-with 180 firefighters working 14 pumpers, three ladder trucks, and a variety of other apparatus out of 14 stations. So, fleet uniformity is an important consideration to Bakersfield's officers and firefighters when specing out new apparatus.

Early in 2012, the department pulled out its pumper specifications and sought input from a number of sources-firefighters, mechanics, and officers-about the good and not-so-good working features of its current apparatus to prepare for a new engine purchase.

Ross Kelly, Bakersfield's deputy chief, says uniformity with the department's existing fleet of pumpers was a concern voiced often. "We took ideas from the pumpers currently in our fleet and looked to improve on some things that weren't working well but still stay in a configuration that we are used to dealing with," Kelly said. "We wanted to keep the body and setup of the equipment on the new pumper as uniform as we could compared with the other pumpers in our fleet."

(1) Uniformity with its other fleet pumpers was a chief concern at the Bakersfield (CA) Fire Department. The KME Severe Service pumper it chose has a Waterous 1,500-gpm pump, 750-gallon water tank, and 20-gallon foam cell. It also features a six-person XMFD cab extended to 59½ inches long to give the crew more space for both structural and wildland firefighting gear. (Photos courtesy of KME.)

Kelly says the department also considered the geography of the coverage area of the station where the new apparatus would be housed in choosing its new pumper. "The station where it was going is mostly hilly in the first-in response areas, so we were looking at strong braking power as well as the angles of approach and departure on the new vehicle," he points out.

Kelly says the input received from department members was included in the specs, which they sent out for bid. Five fire apparatus manufacturers responded to the department's request for bids, and the department chose KME to build the new pumper.

"The finished pumper has some things in different places than our other pumpers, but there was no compromising the basic setup, so it's very similar to our other apparatus," Kelly points out.

(2) The new pumper's hosebed carries 1,700 feet of 2½-inch hose, 600 feet of four-inch LDH, and 300 feet of 1¾-inch hose, all under a hard top cover.

Standard Design

Dean Carriger, the KME salesman who submitted the winning bid, says the Bakersfield pumper is built on a Severe Service chassis, a model KME developed about eight years ago for the Los Angeles County (CA) Fire Department. "The Severe Service line became so popular that it's our premier seller on the West Coast," Carriger says. "It's noted for its durability, unobstructed vision, and having the biggest air-conditioning system available in the fire service. It's all aluminum, including the cab and frame rails, so the design makes for a minimum amount of maintenance."

The XMFD cab that Bakersfield chose is extended to 59½ inches, which Carriger notes "gives the firefighters in the crew cab section more room for their turnout and wildlan