By Ricky Riley

In the First State of Delaware, there are only three counties.

The northernmost is New Castle County, which encompasses an estimated 494 square miles and is bordered by the Delaware River, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The county is home to more than 500,000 residents and is served by 21 volunteer fire departments and the only all-career department in the state—the Wilmington (DE) Fire Department. Each fire department is its own individual entity and corporation. The units are all dispatched by the New Castle County 911 Center, and they all operate on shared and common radio channels. It is a very busy county, answering well over 100,000 calls for fire and emergency medical service. With the number of people who live in the county and those who transit through it on major interstates, the potential for a major incident is a daily threat.

1 Engine 13 has a rear hosebed height of 64 inches. (Photos by author unless otherwise noted.)

New Castle County has been well known for many years for its unique rigs that vary in size, type, and color. Each corporation has its own operational needs, tank requirements, hose loads, and aerial necessities based on its response area. As the county has grown over the past decade and the population has increased, the needs and response requirements have slowly started to mesh together for all the departments. This increase in density and population and the ever-growing call volume has resulted in an interesting thing happening with apparatus purchases.

In the past couple of years, a number of departments’ apparatus reached the end of their life expectancy. This started a round of purchasing for engine companies across the county. I like to keep an eye on New Castle County and have listened to many of its working incidents via the Internet. I’m also fortunate to have a number of friends in New Castle County departments. In communicating with them, I’ve noticed an interesting trend for apparatus purchases in the county. These engine purchase patterns involve many similar units with the same operational options. In my terms, they were buying engines to do engine work.

2 A short 181.50-inch wheelbase makes this unit much more maneuverable in its response area.

In the past, some departments were buying crew carriers that might have some hose and some water on them or a multipurpose unit with no clear identity. Buying a standard engine with a lot of seats, high hosebeds, crosslays out of reach, tons of compartment space, and attention focused on riding in comfort rather than operations has come to an end in the region. Thoughtful planning and rigs designed to lay supply lines, run attack lines, and support the operation of getting water on the fire are in full force in New Castle County.

This change was reinforced by a number of the departments working collaboratively on a number of areas such as joint training classes, offering multicompany drills on acquired structures, and a productive chiefs council. The foundation was set for an understanding of operational fireground strategies and how companies were to operate on automatic aid structure assignments

In this short video, Chief Mike Hartford, of the Limington (ME) Fire Department provides this testimonial and demonstration of the Circul-Air Corp. Roto-Jet hose washer.

By US Digital Designs Staff

If you thought that all fire station speaker systems were pretty much the same in quality and performance, think again. Following is a bit of research from US Digital Designs that just might help change your perceptions on the topic.

The Alarming Facts About Fire Station Speaker Systems
Did you know that significant auditory nerve damage because of loud, continuous noise in and around fire stations is one of the most common health issues for station personnel and staff? In fact, the problem is on the rise.

Research conducted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that ambulance and other emergency sirens generate an alarming 120 decibels (dB) of sound, and are second only to firecrackers and other loud explosions in their potential to cause serious hearing loss.

Advances in sonic technology have led to major improvements in the design and performance of fire station apparatus bay speaker systems that generate such noise levels. So great are the improvements, in fact, that it really pays to do some research on the pros and cons of the wide array of systems available on the market today.

Three Factors to Consider Before Selecting a Fire Station Speaker System
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is the leading authority on fire, electrical, and building safety. NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, specifies the minimum requirements for an occupational safety and health program for fire departments and organizations like them. From the NFPA’s documentation, here are the three major factors you should consider when evaluating sound and noise levels, which ought to be on the top of your list of speaker system considerations:

1. Gauge the Intensity of Sound (Loudness and Softness). A speaker system’s performance at loud and soft levels is a major indicator of its quality. Listen to speakers at both level extremes and test their sound performance.
2. Measure the Sound Frequency Levels. Measured in dB, with zero assigned as the weakest sound that a person can hear and 140 being at the threshold of pain with the instantaneous possibility of permanent hearing loss.
3. Calculate the Duration of Sound. As the NFPA’s noise level research reflects, the length of time a loud siren or alarm sounds is another factor that needs to be considered when evaluating fire station noise levels.

Some Systems Non-Compliant
Some station alerting system manufacturers recommend speakers enabled with “active-equalization.” This feature is automatically activated to increase alert volume levels, when ambient noise (e.g, engine noise, etc.) levels rise. But systems such as these can violate NFPA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, and, as many experts believe, they can further jeopardize firefighter health and well being, risking their permanent hearing damage.

Engine noise by itself often surpasses 100 db, so any system trying to overcome those lev