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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

Posted: Sep 30, 2016

Efficiency Study Praises City Fire Department

Editors note: This is a part of a series the Pekin Daily Times is producing focused on an efficiency study conducted by GovHR USA, which was hired by the city of Pekin to investigate the city's efficiencies. By national standards, the Pekin Fire Department is overworked and understaffed.

By national standards, the Pekin Fire Department is overworked and understaffed. It struggles to keep its firefighters trained and fit.

Yet it received high marks in an independent efficiency study commissioned by the City Council.

The department’s challenges “will only increase” in coming years, Chief Kurt Nelson said as he reviewed the study conducted this summer by GovHR USA, which devoted special focus on the functions of the city’s second-largest department.

For that, blame the “Baby Boomers.”

The city’s population born between 1946-64 is getting older and sicker. Much of it is near or below poverty levels. Firefighters are the first to respond to those peoples’ emergency needs, providing basic medical care and preparing them for ambulance transport by Advanced Medical Transport, a private company, when necessary.

The department answers about 14 such calls a day, GovHR USA noted. Last year it conducted 5,226 emergency medical responses — 18 percent more than in 2013.

Those calls comprise about 75 percent of the department’s workload, funded by an annual operating budget of $6.6 million, Nelson said.

“The burden falls on us,” he said, as first responders to medical calls for people who, for reasons mixed into the changing health care landscape that include state agency funding cutbacks, are home rather than in a hospital or long-term care facility “where they often should be.”

The department answers that growing demand with a 52-man staff broken down into 13-man shifts of 24 hours on duty, 48 hours off.

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Posted: Sep 30, 2016

Bernardston Residents Approve Funding for Fire Station Feasibility Study

BERNARDSTON - Within the next four months, the Bernardston Fire Department will have a concrete vision for expanding the station thanks to a special town meeting vote to fund a feasibility study. More than 30 Bernardston residents unanimously voted to use $32,400 of the town's free cash to fund a fire station expansion feasibility study during Wednesday's meeting.

This was the first article to be addressed during the meeting, which was held at the Bernardston Senior Center within the Powers Institute.

Earlier this year, Bernardston resident Frank “Bud” Foster donated a strip of land to the Fire Department to enable the expansion of the department’s facilities. Members of the Selectboard argued that conducting a feasibility study is the next step toward deciding how to use the property.

Selectboard member Robert Raymond explained that the building could expand to the west, east and north, depending on the results of the study. Fire Chief Peter Shedd added that a separate building could be constructed alongside the existing station, or the existing station could be torn down and replaced altogether.

“Right now, we don’t know what the cost of the building would be,” Selectboard Chairman Andrew Girard said. “We don’t know the best way for it to sit on this plot of land.”

Currently, Selectboard member Stanley Garland said, the fire trucks need to be driven out from the station before the firefighters can hold training or even lay out their hoses to dry. The Selectboard expressed its desire to support the firefighters in developing a building that best suits their needs.

“We have 26 young volunteers that are willing to come to your home and put a fire out when you need them,” Raymond said to the residents. “We need to consider how to provide them with a building that will last 30, 35 years.”


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Posted: Sep 30, 2016

Beaumont Council Approves $7.4 Million for New Fire Station

Building new fire stations isn't simply an exercise in replacing old buildings, but in making sure there are fewer gaps or overlaps in response time for residents and businesses, said Beaumont Fire Marshal Brad Penisson.

The city has 12 fire stations and the response time to reach a fire should be under 4 minutes for at least the first fire truck to arrive up, Penisson said.

On Tuesday, City Council approved spending $7.4 million for a new Fire Station No. 1 near Babe Didrikson Zaharias Park in the city's North End.

Contractors bid last summer to build the new station, but the bids were too high, said City Manager Kyle Hayes.

The city canceled the bids and reviewed its design, cutting $370,000 from the original plan, said Keith Folsom, the city's building facilities superintendent.

The new Station No. 1 will replace the station at 747 College St., which was built in 1981. The 29,000-square-foot building will give firefighters access to major north-south streets like Gulf and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and the east-west Interstate 10.

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Posted: Sep 30, 2016

Richardson (TX) Fire Department 2015 E-ONE Quest Gen II Pumper

CLICK ABOVE FOR THE FULL GALLERY >>

Article and photos by Lindsay Dye

Engine 4 began service with the Richardson (TX) Fire Department in March 2016. The cab (20-inch raised roof) is the Quest Gen II (long) model. Cab seating for four is provided along with an equipment cabinet installed at the upper vista of the cab. A forward-facing EMS cabinet is mounted to the rear cab wall. A Coleman Mach 3 AC unit (13,500-Btu) mounted on the rear cab roof area provides auxiliary temperature control when the apparatus is not in use. This auxiliary unit is protected by a diamond plate wall. Both cab and body are constructed of 3/16-inch extruded aluminum, and hinged compartment doors are part of the body package along with ROM satin-finish roll-up doors for the center body compartments. Spare SCBA bottle storage is located adjacent to the rear crew doors on each side.

Power is provided by a 450-hp Cummins ISX12 engine and an Allison EVS 4000 five-speed transmission with pushbutton shifter. A Harrison 6-kW hydraulic generator is located in the front left area of the hosebed. The rig features the V-MUX electrical system, and a Vista IV touch screen display is mounted on the driver-side engine cover.

The fire apparatus has a Hale Qmax-200 2,000-gpm, single-stage pump (midship) and a UPF Poly III 500-gallon “L” shaped tank. Foam capabilities include a Hale 5.0 FoamLogix system with a 30-gallon foam cell, and the system is plumbed to both front jump lines and the left rear discharge. Dual 1¾-inch jump lines with 400 feet of hose (200 feet each) are located in the front bumper tray. A Hannay booster reel with 100 feet of one-inch line is mounted in the dunnage pan on the right side along with an Akron deck gun mounted on top of the pump panel. The low hosebed carries 1,000 feet of five-inch LDH, 500 feet of three-inch hose, and 150 feet of two-inch hose. A Task Force Tips Blitzfire monitor is part of the firefighting package. Alco-Lite ground ladders (24-foot two-section and 14-foot roof) and pike poles are stored in compartments on the upper right rear of the body. An Alco-Lite 10-foot folding ladder is stored in a driver-side tunnel under the hosebed.

The warning lights include a Whelen Freedom 72-inch light bar (Model FN72QLED) with a GTT Opticom. Whelen M6 Super LED lights adorn the perimeter of the cab and body. Two Whelen Model L31 beacons and Whelen Model B6LED lights are mounted on the rear corners of the body, and a 36-inch Whelen Traffic Advisor (Model TAL65 LED) is center-mounted on top of the hose body. Audio warning devices include a pedestal-mounted Federal Q2B and a Whelen Model 295SLSA1 electronic siren module. Two Federal Dynamax ES100 speakers with “E-ONE” grilles are mounted through the front bumper.

Scene lighting is provided by Whelen M6 Super Linear LED lights located behind the front cab doors and Whelen Pioneer Plus PFP1 LED pedestal-mounted lights on the beaver tail on each side. Quartz lighting includes a Pioneer Plus PFP2 on the front brow and above the crew doors along with Pioneer Plus PFP3 lights mounted on the each side of the forward compartments. 

Dealer: REV RTC Fire & Emergency-Rowlett, TX

Representative: Randy Harley-Regional Product Manager

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Fire Mechanics Section Board

Chair

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Chair

Elliot Courage
North Whatcom Fire & Rescue
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Vice Chair

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Vice Chair

Mike Smith 
Pierce County Fire District #5
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Secretary

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Secretary

Greg Bach
South Snohomish County Fire & Rescue
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Director #1

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #1

Doug Jones
South Kitsap Fire & Rescue
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Director #2

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #2

Paul Spencer 
Fire Fleet Maintenance LLC
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Director #3

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #3

Jim Morris
Mountain View Fire Department
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Director #4

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #4

Arnie Kuchta

Clark County Fire District 6

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Director #6

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #6

Brett Annear
Kitsap County Fire District 18
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Director #5

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #5

Jay Jacks
Camano Island Fire & Rescue
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Legislative Representative

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Legislative Representative

TBD
TBD
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Immediate Past Chair

Posted: Oct 20, 2015

Immediate Past Chair

Brian Fortner
Graham Fire & Rescue

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