Alan M. Petrillo

Fairbanks is Alaska's second largest city and it serves as a rail, air, and water transportation hub in the northern part of the state.

Accordingly, when spec'ing out a new heavy rescue, the Fairbanks (AK) Fire Department wanted a vehicle that would carry an array of rescue equipment for vehicle extrication, water and ice rescue, industrial extrication, and confined space situations.

1 The most unusual feature of the Fairbanks (AK) Fire Department heavy rescue built by SVI Trucks is the Liberator 3200 crane that lifts a 14-foot rigid-hull inflatable boat from its storage spot on the rescue's roof. Also on top are coffin compartments and a Command Light 9,000-watt light tower. (Photos courtesy of SVI Trucks.)

Planning for Now and Beyond

Brian Davis, Fairbanks battalion chief, says the department did a needs assessment and determined what functions the heavy rescue would face in the future. "We determined what we need right now and also what we might need 20 to 25 years in the future," Davis says. "We wanted to anticipate what additional roles the vehicle might have. It might evolve into a rapid intervention team (RIT) vehicle, a ladder tender to reduce the wear on our platforms, or some other role."

Davis points out that water rescue and vehicle rescue are the two most common types of rescues to which the Fairbanks Fire Department responds. "That drove the design of the vehicle," he says. "We like the Spartan chassis, so we did a sole-source requirement for a Spartan chassis and then put out our open bid specs. We sent the bids out widely; got three responses; and, after review, gave the contract to SVI Trucks through True North Emergency Equipment."

Challenging Design

Bob Sorensen, vice president of sales for SVI Trucks, says that building the Fairbanks heavy rescue was the type of challenge that his company likes to face. "It's not every day that we are building a truck with a small crane on it, but we have done it a number of times before," Sorensen says. "Besides that challenge, there was a lot of equipment that had to be placed on the vehicle."

2 The heavy rescue also carries a FrostFighter 250,000-Btu diesel-fired fresh air heater that the department uses to keep vehicle accident victims warm in winter during a rescue.

Davis notes that the Fairbanks Fire Department had issues with pulling a boat trailer with its previous rescue. "It was difficult, and sometimes impossible, to back up in tight spots, so we wanted to carry our 14-foot rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) on the rescue itself."

Sorensen points out that SVI came up with the idea of carrying the RHIB on the roof of the heavy rescue, in between coffin compartments on each side. SVI had built a rescue for a Colorado fire department where an RHIB was stored on the rescue's roof, but that department found it took four firefighters to pull the boat off the roof. "With Fairbanks, we put a Liberator 3200 series crane on the roof and, using a wireless remote, a single person can lift the boat and set it down on the ground or in the water," Sorensen

By Alan M. Petrillo

Getting firefighters off the tops of vehicles was a main reason for introducing remote control monitors, but since they first made their appearance on the tops of pumpers and at the tips of aerials, advances in electronics, networking, and new design concepts have turned them into much desired and used pieces of equipment on fire trucks.

Durability and Networking

Eric Combs, vice president of OEM business for Elkhart Brass Company, says Elkhart Brass has two primary focus areas when it comes to remote control monitors. "The first revolves around the robustness, reliability, and durability of the monitor," Combs points out. "Some early-technology electric-mechanical monitors had reliability issues that caused a concern for fire departments when shifting from manual monitors. But through technological advancements, we developed a more robust and rugged product through use of a potting material, basically a liquid plastic, that hardens and encases circuit boards and makes it impossible for water to get in and also helps prevent vibration from cracking the boards."

1 The Task Force Tips Monsoon remote control monitor is rated at 2,000 gpm but can be run in the 2,250-gpm range. (Photo courtesy of Task Force Tips.)

Elkhart Brass's other primary focus area concerns integrating the monitor with a truck's CANBUS J-1939 system, Combs notes. "In the past you had to open up the unit and get to the circuit board to change settings," he says. "Now we do it through communications where we can change the stow position, flow rate, oscillation, or anything else and even download diagnostics. You never need to touch the circuit board anymore."

Elkhart Brass makes the EXM line of remote control monitors, all of which use the same controller program and the design feature of potting the circuit board, Combs says. The Sidewinder EXM is a bumper turret monitor ranging from 15 to 750 gallons per minute (gpm), the Cobra EXM runs from 500 to 1,500 gpm, the Scorpion EXM from 1,250 to 2,500 gpm, the newly launched SkyStream EXM at 3,000 gpm, and the Sidewinder EXM UHP ultra-high pressure monitor up to 300 gpm at 1,500 pounds per square inch (psi).

Jeff Benson, global product manager for Akron Brass Company, says the company has been making remote control monitors for more than 15 years and, in the past few years, made changes in their control architecture. "We now use the Universal 2 logic box, which has the advantage of ease of installation for OEMs," Benson says. "It greatly reduced the necessary wiring and introduced networking features that operate through the truck's CANBUS J-1939 communication capabilities."

2 The Tornado, Task Force Tips's remote control monitor, is commonly used in a bumper turret configuration on wildland and brush trucks. (Photo courtesy of Task Force Tips.)

In remote control versions, Akron Brass makes the 3462 forestry monitor that ranges from 30 to 300 gpm, the 3418 Apollo electric that runs up to 1,250 gpm, and the StreamMaster II in 1,500- and 2,000-gpm versions. "They all use the Onboard control system," Benson points out, "and all have J-1939 connectivity." The forestry monitor typically is used on a bumper turret, he adds, while the Apollo usually is

ROBERT TUTTEROW

A recent analysis of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) line-of-duty death (LODD) investigative reports by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Fire Service Section confirmed and quantified what is known by most objective fire service personnel: The causes of our high number of LODDs are the fire service's own shortcomings. The Executive Board of the NFPA Fire Service Section analyzed all the NIOSH LODD investigative reports for the calendar year 2013 with an eye on how many times an NFPA standard was mentioned.

NFPA Standards Mentioned

NIOSH published 22 LODD investigative reports for 2013. Cardiac issues were cited as the cause of death in 13 of the reports. Three of the reports were about firefighters being struck while operating on roadway incidents; three were the result of thermal injuries (one of which was a structural collapse); and the other incidents included an apparatus rollover, a fall from a roof, and an electrocution.

Of the 22 LODD reports, ironically, there were 22 different NFPA standards mentioned in the reports. Understandably, many of the standards were mentioned several times. The total number of NFPA standard mentions was 143. The startling revelation from the analysis was that 80 percent of the 143 standards mentioned were from the NFPA 1500 series documents. NFPA 1582, Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Programs for Fire Departments, clearly led the way with 68 mentions or 47 percent of the total. This was followed by NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, with 30 mentions or 20 percent of the totals. NFPA 1583, Standard on Health-Related Fitness Programs for Fire Department Members, was mentioned 11 times for seven percent of the total; and NFPA 1561, Standard on Emergency Services Incident Management System and Command Safety, was mentioned 10 times for 11 percent of the total. No other NFPA standard was mentioned more than five times.

"User" Standards Most Mentioned

The analysis is remarkable in that 80 percent of the standards mentioned are not product standards. They are primarily "user" standards that describe how a fire department should care for its firefighters and the processes fire departments use. The shortcomings are a clear indication of management problems most fire departments have. Take NFPA standards for personal protective equipment (PPE) as an example. For a PPE product to be NFPA-compliant, the product must be tested and certified by an independent third party certification organization. Yet, there is no independent third-party organization holding fire departments accountable for their management practices.

OSHA Stakeholder Meeting

This ties back to the previous two columns about Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) involvement in the fire service. Last July, OSHA held two one-day stakeholder meetings. From the meeting summary report: "The purpose of the meetings was to obtain opinions from stakeholders on a proposed standard framework aimed to protect the safety and health of emergency response personnel." The report listed many of the comments from the stakeholders, such as the following:

• "The majority of the participants expressed the view that a comprehensive standard is urgently needed and would be of great value to raise awareness within the emergency response community to prevent fatalities and injuries."
• "Fire Service is overwhelmingly under-regulated currently a