W. Parker Browne

It's a given that suburban and rural fire departments that routinely draft from folding tanks or other static sources must have well-trained pump operators. I have learned during fire pump operations and drafting water from a static source instruction that priming the centrifugal fire pump is generally one of the most challenging and hardest tasks for the student to understand and master. Automatic priming offers ease of operation when priming a centrifugal pump.

Automatic priming was a standard feature and natural benefit for fire pumps installed in most of the early fire trucks built in the United States. These fire pumps were typically positive displacement, either piston or rotary type. Positive displacement fire pumps were truly self-priming because they were able to pump both air and water. The operator just connected a suction line from the pump to the water source, engaged the pump, opened a discharge, and waited for the air to pass through the pump and then for the water to flow. It was that simple.

If the pump swallowed some air during operation because of turbulence at the entrance to the hose, or even a slow leak in the hose itself, the fire pump would move air through and continue to provide water pressure as long as the pump was running and the water supply lasted. With the advent of the centrifugal pump, manufacturers had to find another way to prime because the centrifugal pump cannot move both water and air. When the centrifugal pump came into common use, so did the primer.

(1) The simplicity of the air-powered primer design is in its ability to create a high vacuum without the use of moving parts or high electrical current draw. Passing the pressurized air through a series of nozzles creates the vacuum. The reliability of a product that has no moving parts and is powered by a vehicle system as carefully engineered and maintained as the air brakes has led to the air-powered primer's growing use on new vehicles as well as its retrofit popularity on older vehicles equipped with air brakes. (Photos and illustrations courtesy of Trident Emergency Products, LLC.)

Conventional Priming

A conventional primer is a small vacuum-producing pump that can remove the air from the suction hose and pump. Since the primer's inception, the pump operator has been required to activate it manually, which can lead to problems if the operator is not trained in its use. If it is shut off too soon, the prime can be lost-if left running too long, the primer can burn out its vanes and seals.

Across the ocean, European fire truck builders also use the centrifugal-style pump. However for the past several decades, they have been providing many of their pumps with an automatic priming feature. Their approach also uses a separate small positive displacement priming pump, but the primer is automatically engaged whenever the pump shaft is rotating and it senses little or no discharge pressure.

Although this approach is not quite as simple as using a truly self-priming water pump, it does automatically tie the separate primer's operation to the water pump's discharge pressure status. The Godiva, Rosenbauer, and Ziegler brands all have fire pumps available with automatic priming.

As the world grows smaller, many of the more useful ideas for firefighting techniques and equipment are crossing the oceans in all directions. The automatic priming idea for centrifugal fire pumps is one of these and makes perfect sense on any fire truck for several reasons:

• It is simple and makes the pump operator's job easier, allowing time for other tasks.
• It will automatically remove any

Accurate information is not only important on the fire ground and the pre-hospital setting; it is paramount to the timely and safe repair of fire department vehicles. For that reason it is important to discuss this topic in detail explaining some of the common issues fire department mechanics face. The security of our careers as mechanics in the fire service relies on the ability to provide confident repairs that follow the manufacturer specification.  With so much riding on our work, we must be able to access the information we seek in a timely manner...

Alan M. Petrillo

The Bakersfield (CA) Fire Department covers a wide swath of territory within the Bakersfield, California, city limits-144 square miles with a population of more than 347,000 people-with 180 firefighters working 14 pumpers, three ladder trucks, and a variety of other apparatus out of 14 stations. So, fleet uniformity is an important consideration to Bakersfield's officers and firefighters when specing out new apparatus.

Early in 2012, the department pulled out its pumper specifications and sought input from a number of sources-firefighters, mechanics, and officers-about the good and not-so-good working features of its current apparatus to prepare for a new engine purchase.

Ross Kelly, Bakersfield's deputy chief, says uniformity with the department's existing fleet of pumpers was a concern voiced often. "We took ideas from the pumpers currently in our fleet and looked to improve on some things that weren't working well but still stay in a configuration that we are used to dealing with," Kelly said. "We wanted to keep the body and setup of the equipment on the new pumper as uniform as we could compared with the other pumpers in our fleet."

(1) Uniformity with its other fleet pumpers was a chief concern at the Bakersfield (CA) Fire Department. The KME Severe Service pumper it chose has a Waterous 1,500-gpm pump, 750-gallon water tank, and 20-gallon foam cell. It also features a six-person XMFD cab extended to 59½ inches long to give the crew more space for both structural and wildland firefighting gear. (Photos courtesy of KME.)

Kelly says the department also considered the geography of the coverage area of the station where the new apparatus would be housed in choosing its new pumper. "The station where it was going is mostly hilly in the first-in response areas, so we were looking at strong braking power as well as the angles of approach and departure on the new vehicle," he points out.

Kelly says the input received from department members was included in the specs, which they sent out for bid. Five fire apparatus manufacturers responded to the department's request for bids, and the department chose KME to build the new pumper.

"The finished pumper has some things in different places than our other pumpers, but there was no compromising the basic setup, so it's very similar to our other apparatus," Kelly points out.

(2) The new pumper's hosebed carries 1,700 feet of 2½-inch hose, 600 feet of four-inch LDH, and 300 feet of 1¾-inch hose, all under a hard top cover.

Standard Design

Dean Carriger, the KME salesman who submitted the winning bid, says the Bakersfield pumper is built on a Severe Service chassis, a model KME developed about eight years ago for the Los Angeles County (CA) Fire Department. "The Severe Service line became so popular that it's our premier seller on the West Coast," Carriger says. "It's noted for its durability, unobstructed vision, and having the biggest air-conditioning system available in the fire service. It's all aluminum, including the cab and frame rails, so the design makes for a minimum amount of maintenance."

The XMFD cab that Bakersfield chose is extended to 59½ inches, which Carriger notes "gives the firefighters in the crew cab section more room for their turnout and wildlan

Chris Mc Loone

On a trip to KME's headquarters in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania, John Kovatch III agreed to sit down and answer a few questions about KME and the fire industry in general. I also sat down with Phil Gerace, director of sales and marketing, who guided me through the history of the company from the time John Kovatch Jr. came back from army service and started a small auto repair shop, which has grown into the KME we know today. In 1946, Kovatch Jr. started the service center and over time bought car dealerships, which grew into a company that remanufactured and eventually built a wide range of specialty vehicles. Over time, Kovatch Jr. bought two car dealerships, a company that built refuelers, and a tank company.

Known for its fire apparatus, which makes up most of its business today, KME also builds refueling trucks for the military and tankers for oil home delivery trucks and is very involved in green energy initiatives.

Among recent highlights, according to Gerace, is KME's certification to ISO:9001. It was a process the company is very proud of, and which led me to ask the "bonus question" below, "What's next for KME?"

CM: Talk about KME's newest offering.

JK: KME has a very broad product line, and we're constantly innovating configurations, cabs, and body options. However, one of the biggest projects we've been successful with is the updating of our AerialCat™ models. We recently completed our 79- to 123-foot rear-mount ladders. In the redesign, we added strength to what were already the strongest devices in the fire service, removed weight, and engineered in a fire service best rating in six performance categories. Now we're doing similar work on the rear-mount platforms.

CM: KME has several large orders right now, with two of the most recent being Boston and the FDNY. What about KME's portfolio has helped it secure these orders?

JK: Many of KME's successes, whether with a small or large department, have been the result of our continued reinvestments during even tough economic times. We've continued to invest in our facility, employees, distribution network, product testing, and quality systems.

CM: What do you think is the most important innovation in the fire service during the past five years?

JK: One of the most important has been the heavy emphasis on fire cab strength and safety options to protect the occupants. Crash testing, roof strength testing, rollover protection, and frontal impact protection are many of the areas where we've seen a tremendous jump in safety for the firefighter. KME is also now offering numerous new safety options regarding pump panels, ladder storage, and hosebeds as well.

CM: What current issues in the fire service trouble you the most?

JK: One of the most troubling is the underfunding of the fire service. Funding for the United States Fire Administration and the Fire Act grants is critical in helping our first responders be ready for the wide range of scenarios for which they're called on a daily basis.

CM: What keeps you up at night?

JK: My two-year-old grandson, John V, when he spends the weekend! Seriously, the kinds of things that keep every business owner up at night: how to balance rising taxes and costs, continue to offer competitive wages and benefits for our employees, and still provide high-quality products and service every day.

CM: What's next for KME?

JK: KME will continue to grow because we've embraced a continual improvement process. We'll expand on the products we offer within our core markets, grow our customer base both domestically and internationally, and continue to grow our already expanded customer service division to provide a fu