Ed. Note: Special thanks to Chief (Ret.) Rick Lasky for arranging to have the Seagrave stop at the Westin in Indianapolis, Indiana, so Rick Abers could share this 1966 tractor-drawn aerial with attendees and FDIC International staffers.

By Ron Heal

On the Wednesday of FDIC International week in Indianapolis, Indiana, I joined fellow members of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board for a noon meeting. Editor Chris McLoone and FDIC International Conference Director Diane Rothschild greeted me with, “You should have been here yesterday.” They went on to explain that they had a good lead for a feature on “old stuff” for our electronic issue. OK, so what did I miss? That is when I learned that both Diane and Chris had been touring around downtown Indianapolis on a 1966 Seagrave 100-foot tractor-drawn aerial (TDA).

FDIC International brings very long and busy days for Diane and Chris. On that Tuesday, Chris found out about a classic 1966 Seagrave TDA, ex Louisville (KY) Fire Department being in town. He had an opportunity to hop on for a ride around downtown Indianapolis. He extended an invitation to Diane and to FDIC Conference Manager Ginger Mendolia to ride along. It took a follow-up call to convince Diane and Ginger to take advantage of a ride. Diane said that words cannot describe the sight of that beautiful and stately rig pulling up at the Indianapolis Westin Hotel with people hanging on the rig. She and Ginger could not wait to climb on board! Diane felt the best seat on the rig was right behind the tractor cab, standing up, the wind rushing past, reinvigorating her from the exhaustion of long days of working the FDIC event. Their ride took them past the Convention Center, past Lucas Oil Stadium, past restaurants and bars filled with FDIC attendees with pipers playing outside some of the popular bars, and back to the Westin. All Diane could do was shout “AGAIN!” And, they did!

Diane, being a civilian, has never pretended to be a firefighter. She respects the profession and knows that many of the tasks taken on by firefighters and rescue personnel are things she could never do. Riding around the streets of downtown Indianapolis on a vintage fire truck, giving the royal wave to passersby, and experiencing a highlight of her week is totally something that Diane could see herself doing.

I appreciate that both Diane and Chris were enthusiastic to share their interesting news—even if I was a day late. They even made some phone calls to find out if the Seagrave was still in town for a few more days. While that was not the case, I did get a name and contact for the apparatus owner. Rick Albers is the proud owner of the beautiful piece of vintage fire apparatus. Albers’s story is long, so I will share it in two issues.

Albers’s fire service story goes back to the 1960s. In his early years, Albers lived in the Louisville suburb of St. Matthews. The suburb had a volunteer fire department. As a kid, Albers would hear the fire siren go off. He would hop on his bike and pedal to the firehouse to check the location of the fire on the chalk board. Then he was off on his bike to get to the location. How many of us have had a similar experience? Albers joined the volunteer department just as soon as he had his driver’s license. In 1977 he joined the Louisville Fire Department. He was also active with his volunteer department. In 1984, Albers became the first paid part time fire chief of the Anchorage (KY) Fire Department. Albers remained with the Louisville Fire Depart

Charlotte (NC) Fire Department heavy rescue. Spartan repurposed cab and chassis; 25.3-foot Hackney walk-around 13-compartment body with drop-pinch frame construction.

Safety Components, Inc. (SCI), the world leader in technology driven fabric solutions for high performance, flame resistant fabrics, is pleased to announce the addition of Marta Doménech Catarina to its Protective Fabrics team. Marta comes to Safety Components from Alfredo Grassi, S.p.A. where she was the Technical & Commercial Manager for Spain. During Marta’s 20+ years of textile experience, she has amassed a broad range of experience in sales, marketing, and customer service as well as distribution and product development. Marta studied at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, in Terrassa, Spain, with a concentration in Textile Engineering.

As the European Sales Director, Marta will be responsible for supporting garment manufacturers, distributors and end use customers in the expansion of SCI protective fabrics for use in industry leading firefighting, wildland, rescue, and industrial garments.

Joey Underwood, Senior Vice President, Safety Components, expressed, “Marta displays an incredible passion for understanding and meeting customer needs in terms of support, sales and delivery requirements. Her track record of success within the industry, along with her professionalism and ability to put her customers first, has earned tremendous respect from those customers, her partners and peers alike."

Commenting on this new chapter of her career, Marta stated, “I am thrilled about the new responsibilities and challenges that lie ahead. This position will allow me to work closely with international manufacturers and distributors while also working with local fire brigades and industrial customers to assist them in maintaining the highest levels in personal protection. I am confident that our team and our technological expertise, along with the Safety Components portfolio of innovative high performance, FR fabrics, Safety Components will continue to grow its global position in protective fabrics for years to come.”

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During the past 20 years Safety Components has led the fire service by developing more outer shell and thermal liner fabric innovations than any other textile company in the world. Safety Components’ outer shells contain a patented, durable, water repellent finish that offers safer, lighter, and dryer gear. These same outer shell fabrics also contain solution dyed fibers for the highest resistance to fading after thermal exposure.

Safety Components, Inc. (SCI) is the market leader in technology driven fabric solutions for high performance textiles. The main focus of SCI is to design and manufacture textiles for markets including: first responders (fire service, USAR & EMS), military, outdoor fabrics, aerospace escape slides, fuel cells, and automotive air bag fabrics. An Elevate Textiles company, SCI has been manufacturing textile fabrics for over 100 years in Greenville, South Carolina, USA.

More: http://www.safetycomponents.com/

Since 1985, the first week of May has been nationally recognized as Public Service Recognition Week. It’s a week dedicated to honoring and celebrating the hard work of our nation’s public servants, including first responders.

Inspired by this week of recognition, which runs from May 5 –11 this year, Cooper Tires and the Gary Sinise Foundation (GSF) have teamed up to honor first responder sand give back to them with donations of new tires for their emergency vehicles. Cooper® and GSF are proud to recognize these brave men and women who demonstrate reliability during the toughest conditions

.First responders rely on a multitude of equipment to serve our communities and do their jobs, and with so many fire stations in the United States being volunteer stations, a donation of new, reliable tires that they can count on will help them meet the needs of their communities and stay safe while doing so.

Cooper® and GSF have selected three fire stations in need and are donating tires for one or two emergency vehicles per station, approximately 30 tires total.

The stations receiving the tires are as follows:

1. DeWitt Volunteer Fire Department in DeWitt, Nebraska

2. Russellville/Lohman Fire Department in Russellville, Missouri

3. Smith Mills Fire Department in Henderson, Kentucky

For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire, or www.twitter.com/coopertire.