By Alan M. Petrillo

A New Jersey fire association, in need of a heavy-duty pumper to protect a refinery, recently received a grant from the oil company that owns the refinery to purchase a custom foam pumper.

The Department

The Colonial Manor (NJ) Fire Association is one of four all-volunteer fire agencies protecting the township of West Deptford, New Jersey, where it has the Eagle Point Sunoco refinery in its fire protection area. Colonial Manor also houses the Gloucester County (NJ) Foam Task Force at its station - an International chassis foam tender (tanker) holding 4,000 gallons of Universal Gold foam. “It was a long time in getting the grant from Sunoco to allow us to purchase the KME pumper along with a rescue-pumper for our neighboring Verga (NJ) Fire Company,” says Colonial Manor Chief Fred Lock, “but we were very pleased when it came through. It was a partial payment on the two trucks, and the township came up with the balance for the two vehicles.”

1 KME built this custom pumper for the Colonial Manor (NJ) Fire Association on a Predator™ Panther 4x2 long four-door chassis and cab with a 10-inch raised roof and seating for six firefighters.

The Foam Pumper

Colonial Manor spec’d a custom foam pumper that ultimately was built by KME on a Predator™ Panther 4x2 long four-door chassis and cab with a 10-inch raised roof and seating for six firefighters. The rig has a 152-inch Challenger LH body that’s constructed of 3⁄16-inch-thick aluminum, is 32 feet long overall, is 9 feet 9 inches high overall, and has a wheelbase of 197 inches.

Powered by a Cummins 450-horsepower (hp) ISL9 diesel engine and Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission, the KME pumper carries a Hale QMax-175 1,750-gallon-per-minute (gpm) single-stage pump, a 750-gallon UPF Poly water tank, an integral 30-gallon foam cell, a Feecon around-the-pump APH 1.5 foam system, and an Akron 95-gpm foam eductor. “We wanted two foam systems onboard the vehicle,” Lock says. “We wanted the capability to start a foam operation with the 30 gallons of foam on the pumper and then to use the additional 250 gallons of foam we carry on our rescue-pumper or the 4,000 gallons of foam off the county tender using the Feecon foam system. If we needed to operate out of a five-gallon pail or 55-gallon drum, we could use the Akron foam eductor.”

2 The new pumper replaces a 1989 Maxim/Ford pumper, shown at right, that the department has set up as a RIT unit. (Photos 1-2 courtesy of Colonial Manor Fire Association.)

Lock points out that the new KME pumper replaces a 1989 Ford Maxim open-cab pumper “that was outdated per National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards. Once we got the new KME, we set up the Maxim as our rapid intervention team (RIT) pumper for mutual aid into surrounding towns.” The new KME also pumper serves as the department’s RIT unit, having a Stokes basket compartment placed under the rig’s low-height hosebed.

Suppression

Ryan Slane, KME’s product manag

By Carl Nix

Firefighters are often thrown into situations that require them to make decisions based on what they see or think they see.

I was speaking with a fellow firefighter who shared a story with me about a recent call his crew responded to. It was a call to a local business whose fire alarm had activated. On arrival, the firefighters used the thermal imaging camera (TIC) to scan the interior walls of the business and noticed a hot spot on one wall. The crew decided to open up the wall; instead of finding what they thought would be a smoldering fire, they found a hot water heater on the other side of the wall.

When using a TIC to locate hidden fires, firefighters should look for anomalies in the thermal signature of surfaces that cannot be explained by ordinary heat sources. The shape of the thermal anomaly is important to understand. If the image shows straight sides, it most likely suggests a heat source between studs of some other structural component. A change in the shape, particularly vertical growth, suggests the fire may be intensifying. When using a TIC, it is very helpful to look for thermal comparisons when investigating an area. Firefighters can compare the area being investigated with other areas and make determinations.

1 Thermal imaging cameras can help firefighters detect hidden fires by scanning the exterior of a structure. (Photos courtesy of Bullard.)

Concealed fires can be obvious, manifesting in such ways as blistering paint, smoke emitting from a wall, or cracking sounds from combustion. A smaller fire, however, may not offer obvious clues to its exact location within the structure. Sometimes the fire is out of plain sight, complicating the process of detection, containment, and suppression. To distinguish abnormal from normal, firefighters should consider what ordinary heat sources could be and how they may be impacting thermal signatures. Some examples include a working appliance on the other side of the wall, active heat ducts inside the wall, and outside sunlight affecting the area and warming it.

The crew who busted through the wall only to find a water heater could have prevented unnecessary damage to the business if members had just looked behind the adjacent door. The use of thermal imaging technology in firefighting is second to none, but firefighters must always use their judgment and experience first before relying solely on thermal imaging technology.

2 Thermal imaging cameras can help firefighters detect hidden fires by scanning the exterior of a structure. (Photos courtesy of Bullard.)

A TIC, without a doubt, can simplify and expedite the task at hand when searching interiors of a structure looking for hidden fire conditions. A firefighter can scan the interior wall and ceiling surfaces of a structure for signs of abnormal heat from a distance of at least 10 to 15 feet away, providing a broad perspective of possible hidden heat conditions. Concealed or void space fires frequently involve electrical circuits or equipment. Use your TIC to perform a thermal scan on an electric

By Carl Nix

Firefighters are often thrown into situations that require them to make decisions based on what they see or think they see.

I was speaking with a fellow firefighter who shared a story with me about a recent call his crew responded to. It was a call to a local business whose fire alarm had activated. On arrival, the firefighters used the thermal imaging camera (TIC) to scan the interior walls of the business and noticed a hot spot on one wall. The crew decided to open up the wall; instead of finding what they thought would be a smoldering fire, they found a hot water heater on the other side of the wall.

When using a TIC to locate hidden fires, firefighters should look for anomalies in the thermal signature of surfaces that cannot be explained by ordinary heat sources. The shape of the thermal anomaly is important to understand. If the image shows straight sides, it most likely suggests a heat source between studs of some other structural component. A change in the shape, particularly vertical growth, suggests the fire may be intensifying. When using a TIC, it is very helpful to look for thermal comparisons when investigating an area. Firefighters can compare the area being investigated with other areas and make determinations.

1 Thermal imaging cameras can help firefighters detect hidden fires by scanning the exterior of a structure. (Photos courtesy of Bullard.)

Concealed fires can be obvious, manifesting in such ways as blistering paint, smoke emitting from a wall, or cracking sounds from combustion. A smaller fire, however, may not offer obvious clues to its exact location within the structure. Sometimes the fire is out of plain sight, complicating the process of detection, containment, and suppression. To distinguish abnormal from normal, firefighters should consider what ordinary heat sources could be and how they may be impacting thermal signatures. Some examples include a working appliance on the other side of the wall, active heat ducts inside the wall, and outside sunlight affecting the area and warming it.

The crew who busted through the wall only to find a water heater could have prevented unnecessary damage to the business if members had just looked behind the adjacent door. The use of thermal imaging technology in firefighting is second to none, but firefighters must always use their judgment and experience first before relying solely on thermal imaging technology.

2 Thermal imaging cameras can help firefighters detect hidden fires by scanning the exterior of a structure. (Photos courtesy of Bullard.)

A TIC, without a doubt, can simplify and expedite the task at hand when searching interiors of a structure looking for hidden fire conditions. A firefighter can scan the interior wall and ceiling surfaces of a structure for signs of abnormal heat from a distance of at least 10 to 15 feet away, providing a broad perspective of possible hidden heat conditions. Concealed or void space fires frequently involve electrical circuits or equipment. Use your TIC to perform a thermal scan on an electric

By Carl Nix

Firefighters are often thrown into situations that require them to make decisions based on what they see or think they see.

I was speaking with a fellow firefighter who shared a story with me about a recent call his crew responded to. It was a call to a local business whose fire alarm had activated. On arrival, the firefighters used the thermal imaging camera (TIC) to scan the interior walls of the business and noticed a hot spot on one wall. The crew decided to open up the wall; instead of finding what they thought would be a smoldering fire, they found a hot water heater on the other side of the wall.

When using a TIC to locate hidden fires, firefighters should look for anomalies in the thermal signature of surfaces that cannot be explained by ordinary heat sources. The shape of the thermal anomaly is important to understand. If the image shows straight sides, it most likely suggests a heat source between studs of some other structural component. A change in the shape, particularly vertical growth, suggests the fire may be intensifying. When using a TIC, it is very helpful to look for thermal comparisons when investigating an area. Firefighters can compare the area being investigated with other areas and make determinations.

1 Thermal imaging cameras can help firefighters detect hidden fires by scanning the exterior of a structure. (Photos courtesy of Bullard.)

Concealed fires can be obvious, manifesting in such ways as blistering paint, smoke emitting from a wall, or cracking sounds from combustion. A smaller fire, however, may not offer obvious clues to its exact location within the structure. Sometimes the fire is out of plain sight, complicating the process of detection, containment, and suppression. To distinguish abnormal from normal, firefighters should consider what ordinary heat sources could be and how they may be impacting thermal signatures. Some examples include a working appliance on the other side of the wall, active heat ducts inside the wall, and outside sunlight affecting the area and warming it.

The crew who busted through the wall only to find a water heater could have prevented unnecessary damage to the business if members had just looked behind the adjacent door. The use of thermal imaging technology in firefighting is second to none, but firefighters must always use their judgment and experience first before relying solely on thermal imaging technology.

2 Thermal imaging cameras can help firefighters detect hidden fires by scanning the exterior of a structure. (Photos courtesy of Bullard.)

A TIC, without a doubt, can simplify and expedite the task at hand when searching interiors of a structure looking for hidden fire conditions. A firefighter can scan the interior wall and ceiling surfaces of a structure for signs of abnormal heat from a distance of at least 10 to 15 feet away, providing a broad perspective of possible hidden heat conditions. Concealed or void space fires frequently involve electrical circuits or equipment. Use your TIC to perform a thermal scan on an electric