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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

Firemen Upgrade Rescue

Posted: Jan 20, 2017

Firemen Upgrade Rescue

Every year the Albia Volunteer Fire Department has a fund-raising appeal to area residents, but every year the funds aren't spent. For the past few years, the department has been saving for a major upgrade in its Albia Fire Rescue equipment and this was the year for that upgrade.

Over $35,000 was spent to upgrade the Fire Rescue truck and its equipment, mainly its extrication equipment, commonly known as “Jaws of Life.”

The original Hurst Jaws of Life were purchased in 1978, weighed 80 pounds and needed two firefighters to operate it. Over the course of time, with car frames being built with boran, the original Jaws of Life have become obsolete.

The department purchased three new Hurst pieces of extrication equipment, including a cutting tool, a spreading tool and a power ram. Each piece of equipment weighs between 30 and 40 pounds and can be operated by a single fireman.

Incredibly, the tools are all powered by rechargeable lithium batteries instead of being hooked to cumbersome hydraulic cables.

Relco Locomotives and Larry Miller helped the Albia firemen retrofit their rescue truck with new heavy duty slide out shelving.

Pittsfield's Ladder Truck Has Returned To Service

PITTSFIELD, Mass. - The city's front-line ladder truck is back. Tower 1, which has been in an upstate New York repair shop for the last seven weeks or so has returned to service. When the truck had gone out for a routine maintenance, heavy corrosion was found underneath and it wouldn't pass a third-party inspection.

It has been in the shop since.

Meanwhile, the city's reserve ladder, Truck 2 was supposed to be fill in while Tower 1 was being repaired. But that truck's stabilizers wouldn't retract and it had to be taken out of service.

Thus, the city has had no ladder truck since late November.

On Wednesday, firefighters received the call that Tower 1 was fully repaired and immediately went to pick it up. It was back in Pittsfield's headquarters by 4 p.m.

The city now has one ladder truck in service, and soon there will be two. The City Council earlier this month allocated an additional $200,000 to a previously approved $600,000 bond approval to purchase a used 2014 Pierce Manufacturing Co. 100-foot aerial ladder truck, which had been used as a demonstrator model at trade shows for the company. The purchase price is $780,000.

Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski said on Monday that the truck was ordered and being driven from Wisconsin to Walpole for servicing this week — the icy weather in the Midwest slowed delivery by a day or so. As soon as it arrives in Walpole, Fire Department staff will inspect it to ensure it is what they expected and have it lettered.

"It's looking we'll have that in service by the end of January," Czerwinski said. "It should be pretty well set ... it is basically a new truck."

The chief

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Henry County's Newest Fire Station Ready This Month

Posted: Jan 20, 2017

Henry County's Newest Fire Station Ready This Month

About one year from its Dec. 8, 2015 groundbreaking ceremony, the revamped Fire Station No. 2 in Locust Grove recently hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony. "The nearly 10,000 square foot, three-bay station is located at 35 Frances Ward Drive and features sleeping quarters for 10, kitchen and laundry facilities, a common living area, fitness room, staff offices and a meeting room," Henry County spokeswoman Melissa Robinson said in a statement.

“The new fire station is a replacement for the existing station, which was built by volunteers decades earlier.”

The Jan. 2 event attracted attendance by commissioners and city officials, she said.

Also at the dedication were members of the county department in charge of projects funded by a special purpose local option sales tax.

“The project was budgeted under SPLOST IV in the amount of $2,361,600 and is expected to be ready for use by the end of the month,” Robinson said.

The architect was Bill Howell with Marietta-based Howell Group, who also designed Fire Station No. 9 in Stockbridge, and the contractor was J.R. Bowman Construction of McDonough.

Three Kemper County (MS) VFDs Receive New Fire Apparatus

When three new fire trucks rolled into DeKalb earlier this month, Kemper County Emergency Management executive director Ben Dudley said it gave each of the county's nine volunteer fire departments "a fairly new frontline pumper."

The three new trucks, which were assigned to the Kemper Springs, New Hope and Preston Volunteer Fire Departments, cost a combined $731,435, with $210K of that expected to be refunded to the county through the Rural Fire Truck Acquisition Assistance Program.

"All three of the trucks were the same, with some top-of-the-line equipment," Dudley said. They were purchased from Sunbelt Fire Apparatus. The trucks have 1,000 gallon water tanks.

A training session was held at the DeKalb VFD, where the trucks were delivered, on Jan. 5. The event was conducted by Michael Ted Evans.

"There are some features that are on this truck that wasn't on some of the older ones and we wanted the firefighters to become familiar with them," Dudley said. He said at present that all three of the trucks were in service and one had already responded to a house fire.