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Welcome

The Finest Supporting the Bravest!

The purpose of the Fire Mechanics Section is to promote standardization of fire apparatus and equipment preventative maintenance, improve safety standards and practices, promote workshops, conferences, and seminars related to the purposes of this Section, and to promote cost savings through standardization of building and equipment purchasing and maintenance.

RECENT FIRE MECHANIC NEWS

Posted: May 1, 2019

Apparatus Purchasing: Custom Cab Headlights

BY BILL ADAMS

It is improbable to impossible for an apparatus purchasing committee (APC) to write a purchasing specification for a custom cab and chassis without interfacing with one of the manufacturers that builds them.

When doing so, APCs usually follow a preferred manufacturer’s specification verbiage verbatim for the quantity, type, and location of a cab’s headlights. Maybe they shouldn’t. They don’t have to.

Because of the correlation between headlight and directional light locations, this article continues the lighting discussion (“Apparatus Purchasing: Front Directional Lights”, Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment, March 2019) on custom cabs. Although headlights appear to be an innocuous topic, valid questions and concerns have been raised about them. How do they work? What determines their location? Who determines their location? Why are they so bright? How should they be aligned? Some queries are addressed herein.

The Electric Vehicle Company of Hartford, Connecticut, introduced the first electric headlamp in 1898. In the early 1920s, Massachusetts was one of the first states to require headlamps on all motor vehicles. Major innovations since then include sealed-beam headlights in the late 1930s, halogen lamps in the 1960s, and high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps in the early 1990s, followed shortly thereafter by light emitting diode (LED) technology. HID lamps never really caught on. Because purchasers have become enamored with them and many OEMs offer them as standard equipment, only LEDs are discussed herein. However, it must be pointed out that some vendors may offer halogen headlights as a default standard with an LED option. That may be a cost consideration rather than a performance criterion. Halogen headlights are still effective, legal, and desirable by some purchasers.

SAM MASSA

Sam Massa is the founder, president, and chief technologist of HiViz LED Lighting, the manufacturer behind the FireTech Brand. The HiViz Web site states that its product line includes LED scene lighting ranging from full-width low-profile brow lights to headlights and everything else in between. HiViz does not market warning lights for the public safety industry.

Massa, who is also a volunteer firefighter and an emergency medical technician, authored a very understandable white paper for the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association (FAMA) titled, “Fire Apparatus Headlights: A Lot to Know” (https://www.fama.org/forum_articles/fire-apparatus-headlights-lot-know/). He agreed to be interviewed for this article and to speak in nontechnical terms. Three of his white paper comments worth pondering are paraphrased below:

Some million-dollar fire apparatus today still use 1960s-era headlight designs.
What most firefighters would like changed on a rig’s lighting is the headlights.
Some apparatus committees specify $40,000 worth of scene lights and $200 worth of archaic glass and halogen headlights.

I consider this Massa comment to be significant, hence, it is verbatim: “A properly designed set of headlights for use on roadways must be designed to comply with an extremely precise set of photometric requirements spelled out in both SAE standards as well as FMVSS108. This set of photometric requirements ensures light from the headlights is sufficiently bright to illuminate the roadway, but more importantly ensures that light from the headlight of your vehicle does not present a hazard to other vehicles sharin

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Posted: May 1, 2019

Fire Apparatus Pump Panel Locations

BY ALAN M. PETRILLO

Stop in any fire department and ask about preferences for pump panel location, and you’re likely to get involved in a lively discussion.

The most typical pump panel locations are midmount pump panels on the driver’s side followed by top-mount panels, but then there are those in more unusual locations like the upper rear-mount location and the outboard or curbside pump panel for rear-mount pumps. And, of course, there’s always the front-mount pump panel, which has almost disappeared from general use.

District 16 North Branch (MD) Fire Department had 4 Guys build this pumper on a Spartan chassis with a pump panel raised above the driver’s side running board and facing the center line of the vehicle. (Photos 1 and 2 courtesy of 4 Guys Fire Trucks.)

1 District 16 North Branch (MD) Fire Department had 4 Guys build this pumper on a Spartan chassis with a pump panel raised above the driver’s side running board and facing the center line of the vehicle. (Photos 1 and 2 courtesy of 4 Guys Fire Trucks.)

4 Guys built this rear-mount pumper on a Spartan chassis for the Adams Township (PA) Fire Department with a pump panel at the top left rear of the vehicle, accessed by a three step stairway.

2 4 Guys built this rear-mount pumper on a Spartan chassis for the Adams Township (PA) Fire Department with a pump panel at the top left rear of the vehicle, accessed by a three-step stairway.

UNUSUAL TOP-MOUNT PANELS

Mark Brenneman, assistant sales manager for 4 Guys Fire Trucks, says the most unusual pump panel location that 4 Guys has put on a pumper is a top-mount panel accessible from only one side of the vehicle. “We built a pumper for District 16 North Branch (MD) Fire Department on a Spartan chassis that has an 18-inch-wide compartment behind the cab over which are the crosslays,” Brenneman says. “The pump panel for the 46-inch side-mount pump is one step up from the running board and is aligned along the axis of the truck, facing the officer’s side.”

4 Guys also built a similar top-mount pump panel for a rear-mount pumper for the Adams Township (PA) Fire Department. “On the driver’s side of the pumper, where the taillights would typically be, is a three-step stairway to the operator’s panel that’s on the axis of the truck,” Brenneman says. “The pump is a Hale RME 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm), and all the pump outlets are in a rear compartment behind a roll-up door.”

John Schultz, director of pumper and custom chassis products for Pierce Manufacturing Inc., says Pierce has built a number of inward-facing top-mount control panels on its PUC pumpers. “The pump panel is located in a nontransverse walkway accessible from the driver’s side of the pumper and sits up high in the body panel,” Schultz notes. “Its advantage is that it’s a high perch for the pump operator and gives a wide field of view, especially to the officer’s side of the vehicle and also to the Read more

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Posted: May 1, 2019

Fire Apparatus Rollovers, Part 4

By Chris Daly

We’ve spent the past three articles discussing the fact that if a fire apparatus operator places too much lateral g-force on the vehicle, it will cause a rollover. The reason we have spent so much time on this topic is because rollovers are one of the most common types of fire apparatus crashes. Therefore, a thorough understanding of lateral g-force should be a key part of any fire department crash prevention program.

One of the many ways that lateral g-force can contribute to a rollover crash is by inducing a “weight shift.” It is common to hear driver trainers and crash investigators refer to “weight shift.” But what is “weight shift,” and why is it bad? Understanding why a vehicle’s weight will shift while rounding a curve, attempting an evasive maneuver, or any other time the driver turns the wheel is an important training concept that every fire apparatus operator must understand.

When a vehicle rounds a curve or makes an evasive maneuver, lateral g-force will cause the vehicle’s weight to shift toward the outside of the curve. This is because a vehicle rides on a suspension system, which is supported by springs, shocks, and rubber tires. When lateral g-force “pushes” against the vehicle, it will cause the vehicle to lean to one side as the vehicle settles into the suspension system. As the vehicle leans, the center of gravity will shift toward the outside of the curve. The shifting center of gravity will reduce the vehicle’s track width on that side and cause a reduction in the vehicle’s rollover threshold (see “Fire Apparatus Rollovers, Part 1” in the January 2019 issue). By reducing the vehicle’s rollover threshold, it will take less lateral g-force to roll the vehicle over. This is the reason lateral g-force is evil. Not only will it cause a fire apparatus to roll over, but it will actively reduce the vehicle’s rollover threshold and make it easier to do so.

1 As the fire apparatus rounds the curve, lateral g-force will start to “push” on the vehicle. This will cause the body of the vehicle to shift toward the outside of the curve. (Photo by author.)

In addition to causing the body of the vehicle to shift on its suspension, lateral g-force will cause the liquid in the water tank to surge in one direction or another. Just as the body of the vehicle leans, or “pushes out,” as the vehicle rounds a curve, so will the water inside the tank. This phenomenon is known as “liquid surge” or “slosh.” As the fire apparatus rounds a curve, inertia will cause the water in the tank to try and continue traveling in a straight line. However, because the water is confined inside the tank, it has nowhere to go. Instead, the water pushes up against the inside of the water tank and, in a partially loaded tank, the water will ride up the inside wall of the tank. This sloshing or surging effect of the water can cause the vehicle’s center of gravity to shift back and forth on the vehicle’s suspension system. This shifting center of gravity can significantly reduce the rollover threshold of the vehicle, thus reducing the stability of the vehicle.

To help prevent this liquid slosh, the National Fire Protection Association requires all fire apparatus water tanks to have baffles. Tank baffles help to absorb the energy created by the sloshing liquid and reduce the force of the water pushing on the inside of the tank. By reduc

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Posted: May 1, 2019

What’s Next for Firefighter Personal Protective Equipment?

BY ALAN M. PETRILLO

The past several years have seen improvements, large and small, in structural personal protective equipment (PPE). Structural turnout gear manufacturers say they see structural PPE continuing to change, improve, and be modified to become more adaptive to firefighters’ needs yet still provide them with maximum protection.

Karen Lehtonen, vice president of innovation and product development for Lion, says Lion “is always looking at more flexible and comfortable turnout gear, using the philosophy of having the gear work with the firefighter and not against you. We produce gear that provides comfort, safety, and mobility balanced with National Fire Protection Association 1851, Standard on Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting, requirements and durability.”

Lion’s turnout gear blocks particulate contamination in the coat/pant interface area through Core Guard, an elastic from the coat that overlaps the top of the pant when closed. Courtesy of Lion.

1 Lion’s turnout gear blocks particulate contamination in the coat/pant interface area through Core Guard, an elastic from the coat that overlaps the top of the pant when closed. (Photos 1-3 courtesy of Lion.)

2 Lion uses a layer of NomexÂ® Nano Flex fabric in conjunction with Lion’s moisture barrier in the bottom of the pant to go over the boot.

3 At the wristlet, Lion uses a layer of Nano Flex with its moisture barrier to block particulate contamination.

Fire-Dex combines advanced ergonomics with a new material, TECGEN 71, to provide higher levels of thermal protection and lower weight that reduces heat stress. (Photos 4 and 5 courtesy of Fire-Dex.)

4 Fire-Dex combines advanced ergonomics with a new material, TECGEN 71, to provide higher levels of thermal protection and lower weight that reduces heat stress. (Photos 4 and 5 courtesy of Fire-Dex.)