By Alan M. Petrillo

Tankers (tenders) are quickly taking on additional roles in fire operations, many of them being not only capable of supplying and shuttling large quantities of water, but also serving in the roles of pumpers and rescues.

Manufacturers report they are building more tankers that can be classified as multipurpose vehicles, and departments are using these multirole tankers to handle situations traditionally dealt with by other types of apparatus.

Increased Pump Sizes

Ken Sebo, pumper product manager for Pierce Manufacturing Inc., says in his 26 years with Pierce he's seen tankers evolve from vehicles for shuttling water-featuring large tanks, small pumps, and low side compartments-to rigs carrying similar-sized water tanks but much larger pumps, hand-line crosslays, hydraulic ladder racks, hydraulic folding tank racks, and high side compartment space that might include hydraulic rescue gear.

"We are seeing pump sizes of 1,500 to 2,000 gallons per minute (gpm)," Sebo says, "and they are going on both single-axle and tandem-axle tankers. The pump house on a tanker is getting to be the same as on a pumper, and now we are putting foam systems on about 75 percent of the tankers we build, with many of them being our Husky 12 foam system for Class A and B foams."

Ryan Slane, product manager for the pumper-tanker group at KME, agrees with Sebo's assessment of the increase in pump sizes on tankers. "The old-school tanker usually had a 500- or 750-gpm pump on it, usually to move water," Slane says, "but with the larger pump sizes of 1,500 gpm to 2,000 gpm, the tanker can take on the role of a pumper if the pumper is out of service. Essentially, a tanker outfitted like that would be a sort of reserve pumper, complete with all the preconnects on a traditional pumper."

The Waunakee (WI) Fire Department went to Pierce Manufacturing for this dry-side pumper-tanker on an International Navistar chassis, carrying a 500-gpm Waterous power takeoff pump and 1,800 gallons of water. The vehicle also has low crosslays, a Husky 12 foam system, and a Hercules CAFS. (Photo courtesy of Pierce Manufacturing Inc.)

The Ocean City (MD) Fire Department recently had KME build a pumper-tanker that would complement its four KME pumpers. Chris M. Shaffer, assistant chief of the career division at Ocean City, says the pumper-tanker carries 2,500 gallons of water, 25 gallons of Class A foam, 100 gallons of Class B foam, a Waterous Advantus 6 foam system, and a 2,000-gpm pump. Shaffer says the department replaced a 1985 pumper with a 750-gallon water tank and a refurbished 2,650-gallon tanker with the new KME pumper-tanker.

"We wanted more water but the same pump module and cab configuration as on our pumpers," Shaffer says. "So the pumper-tanker has five discharges in the hosebed with 200 feet of 2½-inch hose, 150 feet of two-inch, 200 feet of 2½-inch preconnected, and two preconnected 1¾-inch hoselines of 200 feet each."

Shaffer adds that the pumper-tanker carries 1,800 feet of five-inch large-diameter hose (LDH) in its low hosebed-68 inches off the ground-which

By Bill Adams

Every couple of years, the fire service trade journals address fire apparatus scene lighting, with numerous articles describing the latest and greatest devices available, who manufactures them, how they work, and why they are better than previous generations of lighting.

Regrettably, the technical descriptions used by some manufacturers and vendors can easily confuse the average firefighter riding in the crew cab and even befuddle those who write apparatus purchasing specifications. Lighting and apparatus manufacturers should realize that not every firefighter holds a degree in automotive electrical engineering. They should also recognize that many firefighters understand advertising is specifically designed to sell and not necessarily to educate. In the future, vendors may be required to explain in plain English the lighting systems they want fire departments to specify. Those aren't critical observations; they're facts of life.

Spec writers can face formidable challenges when writing purchasing specifications for scene lighting. They are attempting to describe something that has no formal definition and adheres to no known regulatory standard. The term scene lighting has different meanings to different people. Equally exasperating is that the current edition of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus, doesn't appear to coherently address the topic either.

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Most fire departments know what they want for scene lighting but are hard pressed to describe it. For simplicity's sake, I refer to "scene lighting" in this article as lighting that illuminates the general area around a fire apparatus with no quantifiers for brightness, intensity, or distance.

Today the lighting industry eagerly promotes, and the fire service has overwhelming accepted, light emitting diode (LED) lighting. Although not every pumper on today's fireground requires an onboard 120-/240-volt generator, all should have adequate scene lighting. That's common sense. It appears 12-volt LED lamps powered by a pumper's low-voltage electrical system can fulfill the scene lighting needs of nongenerator-equipped pumpers. That has merit and warrants a closer look in layman's terms. This first part will do so-open-mindedly-with realistic observations devoid of advertising, promotions, and personal agendas.

The first chassis-powered scene lights were searchlights mounted just above the dashboard. They were essentially a dual swiveling headlight. This one is mounted next to a hand-cranked siren. (Photos 1-2 by Mahlon Irish.)

Accountability

Apparatus purchasing committee (APC) members tasked with specifying scene lighting for a new rig must determine the type, method of powering, size, quantities, and locations for a lighting package suitable for their needs. That can be an unenviable position-especially when they can't define their needs. The days of merely writing a spec with a manufacturer and model number for scene lights may be over. Blindly accepting and regurgitating technical specifications from a fa

You don't have to drive very far to see how vehicles today differ from the past. Aerodynamic bumpers, sloped windshields, and lighter weight materials have become commonplace-all in the name of fuel economy.

Chris Crowel

We appreciate these advancements when the time comes to fill the tank, mostly because these improvements have not impacted the mission of our commuter vehicle: to make it to and from our destination.

These designs didn't happen by chance. From the first Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars enacted in 1975, government regulation and customer needs drove manufacturers to innovate newer and more efficient technologies. Regulatory focus on fuel economy has now shifted toward larger vehicles, which include today's fire apparatus.

How do you regulate fuel consumption on heavier vehicles when some of the same features that affect fuel efficiency also impact the ability of the vehicle to complete its mission? This is where collaboration between government regulators [such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the California Air Resources Board (ARB)], industry associations [such as the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers' Association (FAMA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs], and vehicle and component suppliers becomes critical to ensure vehicles meet both criteria-successful task completion and greater efficiency. One of FAMA's primary goals is to advance and protect the interests of the fire and emergency services industry through the use of effective open communication. FAMA member companies have worked collaboratively with the government on the Phase 1 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) and Fuel Efficiency regulation and are at the forefront in discussions regarding upcoming proposed Phase 2 regulation.

Phase 1 Greenhouse Gas Regulation

Earlier EPA regulations focused on certain emissions of the engine such as oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). As clean diesel engine technology resulted in near zero emissions, focus shifted to improved GHG emissions and fuel economy. Reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂), the main GHG, is achieved through improved fuel economy.

Development of the EPA's Phase 1 GHG approach started in 2007, rules were finalized in 2011, and it took effect starting in 2014. It was intended to encourage more widespread adoption of existing technology without disrupting how trucks are used.

How do you approach a very complex, never-before-been-addressed issue of regulating fuel consumption from an incredibly diverse sector of vehicles? Through industry collaboration. The EPA arrived at a tailored approach that set separate standards for over-the-road tractors, vocational vehicles, and engines.

Tractors and vocational vehicles demonstrate compliance with the standards through a simulation tool developed by the EPA called the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Model, or GEM. There are five inputs for combination tractors: aerodynamics, weight reduction, tires, idling, and speed limiters. For the purposes of over-the-road tractors, these technologies enabled greater fuel economy and, as a result, lower transportation costs for goods.

Vocational vehicles support a wide variety of missions. For everything from fire apparatus to garbage trucks, cranes, cement mixers, and buses, the vocation drives the design of the vehicle. For this vehicle category, where the engine has the most influence on fuel economy, chassis manufacturers need only to track one input: tire rolling resistance. Chassis manufacturers use GEM for reporting compliance. Wesley Chestnut, Technical Committee co-c