By Rich Marinucci

Two of the most critical elements involved in providing quality service are the political and labor relations enjoyed by an organization. First, you will note that I said quality service. Sometimes I have the opinion that we have accepted average or less because of a variety of reasons. Obviously political support is needed to advance any department. Places that do not have good support—and this means more than a policy board just paying lip service—will not get the resources they need to be at the top of their game. Remember that someone else controls the funding provided to a department. Good funding pays for good service; great funding pays for great service.

I recently attended a seminar presented by my good friend Garry Briese. The title was, “Our Fire Department’s New Motto: Good Enough is Good Enough!” The basic premise is that fire departments have take on so many extra duties from its core mission that there is not adequate time and resources to get great at our jobs. Think about it. Besides fire response, EMS, hazmat, tech rescue, fire prevention, fire investigation, and public safety education, what else have you taken on when asked? Obviously, members of the fire service are very willing to help out and are loathe to say no. I don’t think people purposely or consciously take advantage of that, but when you get to a point where you cannot commit to excellence, something has to give. You become a jack of all trades and a master of none, with an emphasis on master of none.

On the political side of things, those organizations (and I mean in totality) that get the need to be actively engaged politically almost always do better than those that don’t. I am not necessarily advocating that we start putting signs in our yards and backing candidates. The real base of political power is relationships—with everyone from the highest elected official in the community to the citizenry. It will include the movers and shakers, business leaders, and even those involved with youth sports. Friends are more likely to support friends. Those on the outside get the leftovers.

Another bone of contention is that we don’t take advantage of some of the things at our disposal. There are plenty of studies that prove the benefit of adequate staffing, the effects of the job on cancer rates, the need to promote the health and wellness of our employees, and the simple fact that happy, contented employees do better. Yet, I hear so called leaders arguing against the merits of NFPA standards like 1710 and 1500. I never hear those same people take a position that they don’t agree with the apparatus or protective clothing standards. They say NFPA 1710 and NFPA 1500 cost too much. But, they don’t say that NFPA 1901 adds too much to the cost of apparatus. They say that their people are their most valuable resource but they only comply totally with the standards applicable to inanimate objects. Go figure.

Another aspect of working toward improved service is through good labor relations. While most would view this as between management and a formal labor organization, it should be viewed as taking care of employees within the reasonable confines of available resources. And, reasonable resources do not mean that the policy making body said to take it or leave it. The budgets should be established based upon need and desired levels of service. Any organization, regardless of the line of work, will only thrive if the people delivering the service are content. Once they are rewarded with the basics, they are looking for a voice in the operations, caring supervisors, and honest support. It doesn’t sound too complicated but there are not

Pierce Manufacturing today introduced the expansion of its Command Zone™ advanced electronics architecture with the unveiling of CZConnect™, a fully-integrated telematics system featuring a free, customized vehicle readiness report containing vehicle performance data and maintenance interval information.

APPLETON, WI—Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation has expanded its Command Zone™ advanced electronics architecture with CZConnect™, a fully integrated telematics system on display at FDIC International. CZConnect joins the existing CZControl and CZDiagnostics branches of the Command Zone system as the first fully integrated WiFi-based telematics solution available in the fire industry. With CZConnect integration, a free customized vehicle readiness report containing vehicle performance data and maintenance interval information is emailed to up to five addresses chosen by the customer.

“CZConnect provides the opportunity to give fire departments access to data that can improve their performance, while at the same time, allowing Pierce to build-out long-term value propositions such as predictive maintenance and total cost of ownership,” said Jason Anibas, senior chief engineer, Pierce Manufacturing. “We’re proud to be the first in the fire industry to offer a fully-integrated telematics solution and look forward to incorporating customer feedback in the expansion of the system’s analytic capability.”

The on-board telematics control unit (TCU) continually monitors the engine, transmission, brake systems, fluid levels, system voltage, operating hours, vehicle location, and status of Command Zone I/O while the apparatus is performing its daily activities. Apparatus and GPS data is pushed from the vehicle each time it auto connects to a known WiFi network. Data analytics is performed, and a customized report is generated and designed to be viewed on mobile devices. A vehicle readiness report can also be requested at any time from the vehicle display.

Activating the customized vehicle readiness report is as simple as navigating to the Report Menu on the vehicle display, entering up to five e-mail addresses, and connecting to a minimum of one of a possible ten WiFi networks. The customer can modify e-mail addresses and WiFi networks at anytime.

“Our goal was to make the vehicle readiness report simple and intuitive, while still adding value,” said Anibas. “Each of the report category headers provide a visual indication if there is an action item contained within. Each category can be expanded or compressed to reveal the amount of information desired by the customer.”

The CZConnect fully-integrated telematics system and vehicle readiness report is available on any Pierce fire truck equipped with the Command Zone Advanced Electronics System. For a comprehensive review of CZConnect, visit www.piercemfg.com for system highlights, video and images.

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