By Alan M. Petrillo
Compartments on fire apparatus need to be covered to keep equipment inside and dirt and moisture out.
For many years, the typical kinds of coverings found on fire trucks were either swing-out or swing-up doors, the latter of which sometimes provided a sort of awning during inclement weather. But in recent years, roll-up doors have made big inroads into fire apparatus design, so much so that their popularity continues to increase year by year.
Not New to the Fire Service
Steve Touchton, emergency products manager for R-O-M Corporation, says his company has been in business more than 60 years and has made roll-up doors since the early 1980s, first for the European market. "We were the first company to bring roll-up shutters to the United States and the fire market," Touchton says. "We now make the Series III roll-up shutter and have about 80 percent of the United States fire market."
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| 1 R-O-M Corporation makes Series III vertical roll-up doors of aircraft-grade 6063T6 aluminum alloy, shown here in the partially opened position. (Photo courtesy of R-O-M Corporation.) |
A&A Manufacturing, makers of Gortite roll-up doors, got into making roll-up doors for the fire industry in 2000, Ken Czyzewski, sales and marketing manager, says and has 40 years of experience in making roll-up covers for the machine tool industry. "All Gortite roll-up doors are available with manual and power lock options, as well as LED lighting and door ajar switches," he adds. "We also make a walk-on hosebed cover that retracts to the back end of the hosebed. It's a stainless steel skin with aluminum ribs for reinforcement and will hold 250 pounds every two feet of length."
Ray Van Gunten, president of Dover Roller Shutters Inc., says his firm is part of AM Group, which owns Diamond Roll-Up Doors and purchased Dover Roller Shutters in England in 2004. "We had been making roll-up doors under the Diamond name since the 1990s, but now it is all under the Dover name," Van Gunten says.
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| 2 DuroStrip LED compartment lighting is built into the roll-up doors that R-O-M Corporation fabricated for this Seagrave pumper. (Photo courtesy of R-O-M Corporation. |
John Seehof, president of Hansen International Inc., says his firm has been in business for 40 years providing D-ring door hardware for swing-out and swing-up compartment doors and also makes roll-up doors for the fire service. "Ten years ago, we surveyed firefighters about what they wanted to see in roll-up doors," Seehof says. "They wanted better hand clearance, an unlatched door indicator, and the ability to have a custom-designed door. We addressed all those issues for them."
Construction
Czyzewski says, "Everyone's roll-up doors are fairly similar in design, with individual slats hinged together to form the door. They are made out of aluminum and have a weather seal in between the slats to keep out dust, dirt, moisture, and road salts."
![3 R-O-M Corporation also makes horizontal shutters for f
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Posted: Oct 10, 2014
Robert Tutterow
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Robert Tutterow |
In last month's column, I reviewed the state of personal protective equipment (PPE) cleaning in the United States. In this month's column, I will get into the "nuts and bolts" of PPE care and maintenance.
In June, I was fortunate to be involved in the inaugural Fire Industry Equipment Research Organization (F.I.E.R.O.) Fire PPE Workshop at the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Airport Fire Training and Research Facility. The location provided an excellent setting for an assembly of fire department personnel in a state where National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1851, Standard on Selection, Care and Maintenance of Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting, compliance is enforced by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection. The workshop included presentations on risk assessment, dirty PPE and cancer, handling a line-of-duty death, understanding third-party verification, inspection and cleaning, and a panel discussion of PPE caretakers in four DFW area fire departments.
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| 1 This was a bucket of clean water before a set of turnout gear soaked in it for two hours following a room-and-contents fire. (Photo by Tim Tomlinson.) |
Cancer Risk
Cindy Ell, executive director of the International Fire Fighter Cancer Foundation, captured everyone's attention with a presentation on firefighter cancer. Here are a few of the highlights of her presentation. She stated that cancer is now an epidemic in the fire service. According to research, firefighters are 100 percent more likely to get cancer than the general population. There are more toxins and carcinogens present in the current fire environment than in the fires of previous generations. Male firefighters are 100 percent more likely to get testicular cancer than nonfirefighting males. They are at a 28 percent higher risk for prostate cancer. There is indication that female firefighters are more at risk for breast cancer and other cancers. All firefighters are at 50 percent higher risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. And, there are increases in brain, colon, and thyroid cancers as well as melanoma.
The contaminants are getting into the body by ingestion, inhalation-don't ever breathe smoke!-and absorption. The exposures are cumulative. It's not just the "big" fires that are producing toxins and carcinogens. It applies to vehicle fires, odor investigations, dumpster fires, electrical fires, and on and on. It was interesting to learn that the parts of the body most susceptible to absorption are the groin and head-especially the jaw. The best ways to minimize these risks are gross decontamination on the scene followed by a thorough shower back at the fire station. Yes, all volunteer fire stations should have shower facilities so that firefighters can remove contaminants from their bodies before exposing their families.
It is also important that self-contained breathing apparatus face pieces be thoroughly cleaned after every use. Additionally, the Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department now collects firefighters' hoods following a working fire, provides the firefighters with clean hoods, and takes the contaminated hoods directly from the fire scene to the department's cleaning facility. A final thought on protecting against skin absorpti
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Posted: Oct 10, 2014
By Paul Shapiro
Through the years, the most debated piece of equipment and the one that draws more passion from firefighters than anything else has been the nozzle. This article focuses on probably the most controversial nozzle-the automatic nozzle. It will cover what the automatic nozzle is designed to do and how it can be used.
History
The automatic nozzle was invented by Clyde McMillan, founder of Task Force Tips, who was the chief of the Gary (IN) Fire Task Force. This was a volunteer fire company formed to assist the municipal fire department in Gary, Indiana, on large structure fires. For the most part, the Gary Fire Task Force was a big water company that mainly provided master stream operations. Large-volume-water-delivery fires can have water supply issues that can negatively impact fire stream quality. There were two basic types of master stream nozzles used in those days: a smooth bore nozzle and a combination nozzle. Both of these nozzles are considered fixed-gallonage because they require a specific nozzle pressure (NP) to produce the nozzle's rated flow [gallons per minute (gpm)]. This in itself can be difficult to achieve at large-flow fires with hydrant system pressures dropping as flow demands increase. McMillan was well aware of this problem and decided to come up with a solution that would provide a quality stream, as far as reach is concerned, even with an uncertain water supply. Thus, the automatic nozzle was born.
How It Works
The main component of an automatic nozzle is designed around a pressure control unit that is calibrated to the nozzle's required NP, thus maintaining a near constant pressure throughout the nozzle's flow range. The reason why it's called a near constant pressure is because there is a slight difference in the NP from the bottom of a nozzle's flow range to the top. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1962, Standard for the Care, Use, Inspection, Service Testing, and Replacement of Fire Hose, Couplings, Nozzles, and Fire Hose Appliances, states that an automatic nozzle can have a NP range of plus or minus 15 pounds per square inch (psi) within its flow range.
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| 1 These nozzles are all automatic nozzles. Two (left and center) are manufactured by Elkhart Brass; the third (right) is a Task Force Tips (TFT) nozzle. (Photos by author.) |
Here is a more simple way to explain this function using a garden hose. A garden hose without a nozzle connected to it is simply an open-butt hose. This is good for just filling things up. However, to get any reach with a garden hose stream, you put your thumb over the opening of the hose, creating back pressure, which creates a decent stream for your task at hand. Think about how you would use your thumb to maintain a far enough stream to reach 15 feet away to a flowerpot. You would have to depress your thumb into the stream to create more reach and then possibly retract your thumb if the stream was going beyond the target. This is exactly the way an automatic nozzle works, except it doesn't require any thinking from the operator. It works automatically based on its design.
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Posted: Oct 10, 2014
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Richard Marinucci |
Everyone knows that technology changes rapidly and is a vital component of virtually every organization-fire and other governmental entities as well as businesses in the private sector.
In the private sector, organizations evaluate technology based on its ability to affect the bottom line-that is, looking at enhancements in technology to determine whether or not the operation improves so profits increase. On the government side, profit and loss issues do not necessarily drive decision making.
Do not misunderstand this to mean that those in the public sector should not consider cost when looking at new technologies. Any potential benefit evaluation will weigh the costs against the projected service improvements.
To put it another way, government exists for the greater good and mostly provides services that do not generate a profit. Fire departments are organized to offer a particular level of service that matches the desires of their communities. An elected body representing the entire population usually establishes the service expectation. From this perspective, a view of technology should consider the added value it offers when providing the services within the responsibilities of the agency.
The Technology Pitch
At times, I have been asked to look at some very specific technology advancements to see if there is an application for the fire service and ultimately a market there. In some cases, businesses making products for the private sector were seeking input to ascertain if they could expand their businesses. Other products were for the emergency service. In either case, there would have to be a benefit for the fire service and a realistic cost.
On occasion, those extremely competent with the technology offer the initial sales pitches. They make it look easy, and it can be very enticing because the products seem so simple and so perfect. As part of the demonstration, they often imply that the products can do almost anything. Sometimes I have found flaws with this. First, I rarely can operate whatever it is that they are demonstrating as well as the presenters can. Second, most of the salespeople will say their products will do most anything with the hope of getting a sale. This does not always match what the product developers can do.
Taking Advantage
Technology does offer solutions to many problems and allows individuals and organizations to improve productivity. Other advances have allowed fire departments to offer additional services that add value to the community. There are so many possibilities that organizations with limited resources must show due diligence when evaluating advances in technology so that they make the right choices and avoid mistakes. It is not good for any organization to have a bunch of so-called "must haves" end up in storage. To take full advantage of emerging technologies, organizations must know as much as possible about the costs required to acquire the new technology and have time to train and for ongoing maintenance, upkeep, and upgrading as needed.
New technology relies on early adopters and adapters to try out the next great product. These people are very important because providers need departments willing to put new innovations to the test. Those who do so must be willing to accept the fact that the product may need some "tweaking."
If you are one of those who raises his hand to be first in line, you accept the risk that the technology might not provide the intended outcomes or perform as described or promised. There are advantages as well as disadvantages to being f
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