GLOBE, DUPONT PROTECTION SOLUTIONS (DUPONT), and the NATIONAL VOLUNTEER FIRE COUNCIL (NVFC) have announced the latest round of winners in the 2016 Globe Gear Giveaway. The Northwest Washington Volunteer Fire Company in Salem, Indiana, and the Sylvia-Yellow Creek Volunteer Fire Department in Dickson, Tennessee, will each be outfitted with four sets of new Globe turnout gear. The Northwest Washington Volunteer Fire Company serves a 44-square-mile area in southern Indiana. After seeing a 25 percent increase in structure fires and a 50 percent increase in brush fires over the past few years, it enacted a recruitment campaign that increased its staffing from four to 11 firefighters. Most of its annual budget is spent on insurance, so it requested donated gear from other area departments to outfit its new volunteers. Although it was able to get sets for everyone, all of the gear is more than 10 years old, with most more than 15 years old.

The Sylvia-Yellow Creek Volunteer Fire Department is a small department in a very rural section of Dickson County, Tennessee. With new leadership, the department has increased from two members in 2013 to 16 members in 2016. The new membership has been hard at work, launching an annual smoke detector campaign; hosting fundraisers; and receiving an Insurance Services Office rating, which saves local homeowners an average of $200 a year on their insurance premiums. Unfortunately, it only has 10 sets of turnout gear for its 16 active members. Seven of those sets are more than 10 years old and are worn and mismatched.

Globe was also recently awarded the 2016 International Achievement Awards (IAA) Award of Excellence and Best in Category for Advanced Textiles for its new ATHLETIX™ turnout gear.

PIERCE MANUFACTURING announced that MacQueen Emergency Group, a subsidiary of MacQueen Equipment Group of St. Paul, Minnesota, is the new Pierce dealer for Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Established in 1961, MacQueen-a well-known name across the Upper Midwest-represents several leading heavy-equipment brands, including Pierce’s sister company, Oshkosh Airport Products.

The footprint of MacQueen Emergency Group features a brand new 43,000-square-foot company headquarters on St. Paul’s east side that offers a training center and 14 service bays. The company will also serve Pierce customers from the 12,000-square-foot Apple Valley, Minnesota, facilities previously used by the local Pierce service team (Red Power Diesel). Additionally, the company operates a full-service facility in Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as a fleet of mobile service teams to blanket the territory.

SCOTT SAFETY’S Scott Sight was recently recognized with a Popular Science 2016 “Best of What’s New” award. Scott Sight, the first in-mask, hands-free thermal imaging camera, was recognized in the security category. It provides improved visibility in smoke-filled environments and gives firefighters the ability to quickly locate and rescue victims or identify exit routes in deteriorating conditions. Following the receipt of regulatory approvals from the National Fire Protection Association in early September, Scott Sight is now being shipped and used by fire departments across the United States.

SAFE FLEET EMERGENCY AND INDUSTRIAL has announced that Keith Watson has joined the company as the southeast municipal sales manager for Elkhart Brass.

He will report to Ron Truhler, divisional vice president, North American sales. W

By Alan M. Petrillo

The Zionsville (IN) Fire Department faced the problem of a rapidly growing community in the fastest growing county in the state, where single-family residences and other buildings were set back considerable distances from roadway access, making it difficult to reach many of them with the E-ONE 95-foot midmount aerial ladder the department was running.

1 The Zionsville (IN) Fire Department chose to have E-ONE build it a CR137 aerial ladder to reach many of the homes in its district where setbacks and the sizes of homes prevented roof operations with shorter ladders. (Photos courtesy of E-ONE unless otherwise noted.)

“Our midmount, while maneuverable, was causing us difficulty with some homes,” James C. VanGorder, Zionsville’s chief, says. “We were not able to reach the typical home in the community. We would set up and find ourselves short for roof use, and the setbacks and size of the houses were the two biggest issues we were facing.”

VanGorder says that the department’s midmount only had a 300-gallon water tank on it, and he wasn’t comfortable with that size, as well as the problem of reach. “We tried to find a quint that worked for us but were not able to. But, then we sold our midmount before the end of its useful life so we could get a good amount of money for it.”

2 The E-ONE aerial ladder for Zionsville also has a Waterous CMU 2,000-gpm two-stage pump, a UPF Poly III 500-gallon water tank, and all Akron Brass valves with a stainless steel manifold.

Extended Reach

After a neighboring fire department took delivery of a 127-foot ladder, Zionsville’s truck committee brought in various manufacturers’ rigs with ladders in 100-, 105-, 110-, 127-, and 137-foot lengths to test those products. “We set up at the same addresses and used the same scenarios to evaluate each of them,” Brian Miller, deputy chief of operations, says. “We wanted to see if we could reach the roof line each time and be able to do an effective roof operation. We also looked at whether we could move right or left, up or back with the ladder, and still have reach capability.”

Miller pointed out that the truck committee also considered travel length and setup width of the various aerial ladders they researched. “We wanted to be sure that we didn’t have a vehicle that would close down the whole road with its setup,” he says. “In addition, we also wanted a maneuverable vehicle because a lot of our subdivisions are one way in and out.”

3 The CR137 uses crisscross underslung outriggers that give the truck a 13-foot, 8-inch jack spread.

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