By James Chinni, Marius Magdun, and Marissa Cotten

Saving the lives of others can be a very dangerous business, especially for firefighters whose job it is to protect our communities.

In 2012, 81 firefighters died while on duty-18, or one fifth, died while responding to or returning from the scene.1 To address and reduce deaths in vehicular accidents, many fire chiefs across the nation stress the importance of buckling up. However, many take their firefighters' safety a step further by specifying supplemental restraint systems (air bags) on their apparatus.

History of Air Bags in Passenger Vehicles

The first commercial air bag systems were offered on some GM cars in the early and mid 1970s. These systems were much larger, heavier, and slower than today's air bag systems. They were strictly a supplement to seat belts and were marketed by GM as the Air Cushion Restraint System.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, frontal air bags were reintroduced and federally legislated in passenger vehicles as supplemental restraint systems (SRS). Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler were among the first manufacturers to introduce a driver-side, steering-wheel air bag as standard equipment. Within a few years, driver- and passenger-side frontal air bags were standard in most vehicles sold in North America and Europe. By the mid 1990s, side-impact air bags started showing up, either integrated in a door panel or within the side bolster of the front seats. The 1995 Volvo 850 was the first vehicle to offer side air bags. The pyrotechnic air bag inflator was mechanically triggered by intrusion of the front door into a pyrotechnic primer charge. Today, all air bag systems are monitored and triggered by electronic sensors. It was the same company, Volvo, that introduced the first rollover air bag in 2003.

Rollover Air Bags

Although most people are familiar with air bags in their personal vehicles, their application in fire apparatus is specially designed for the unique seating environment, duty cycles, and crash characteristics of their installation. Air bags in fire apparatus originated with the discovery that rollover crashes accounted for roughly five percent of all heavy truck crashes, but were the cause of more than 60 percent of fatalities and 45 percent of incapacitating injuries to heavy truck occupants involved in a crash.2 To improve the outcome for firefighters and truck drivers in crashes, the industry researched rollovers to develop effective countermeasures. The first step in addressing this issue was to understand what happened to people inside a vehicle cabin during a rollover. That need drove the construction of a one-of-a-kind 90-degree dynamic rollover impact machine.

Engineers discovered that rollovers in heavy trucks are dramatically different than those in a passenger car or SUV. The air bag systems needed to protect the occupants would have to be different as well. After years of extensive testing and validation, including the rollover test of an entire vehicle, the first roll-protection-equipped fire apparatus was introduced in the spring of 2003. About the same time, Volvo introduced the XC90 SUV with roll stability control (RSC). The RSC contained an algorithm that deployed rollover curtain air bags and was touted as the first of its kind in the world. Today all makes of custom fire apparatus offer roll-protection systems as an option to better protect firefighters in a rollover. In addition to fire trucks, rollover air bags can also be found on commercial trucks and ambulances.

Rollover System

The brain of the system in a fire apparatus is a roll sensor that is mounted centrally within the cab. As soon as the driver turns the vehicle ignition on, the sensor goes through a self-diagnosis that typically lasts five to 10 seconds, then begins to sample vehicle status and conditions every 12 milliseconds, or about

By Paul Shapiro

The concept behind having a preconnected handline is to facilitate quick deployment for a quick attack.

Most pumpers are set up with two types of preconnects: one for what I like to call medium flows of 100 to 185 gallons per minute (gpm) and the other for large flows ranging from 250 to 500 gpm. The high end of the large-flow handline is normally 325 gpm. However, there are a few exceptions. Flows will sometimes reach 500 gpm, but that is more the exception than the rule. The main reason for having a large-flow preconnect is to make a quick large-flow attack on a significant fire to achieve a quick knockdown. This is usually done by the first-in unit. When it comes to large-flow handlines, the 2½-inch hose has always been the weapon of choice, because its lower friction loss capabilities allow for more flow. The drawback to using 2½-inch line is that it is heavy, making it tough to deploy, especially in a quick-attack mode. It is also pretty difficult to move around after it is charged. Because of these negative traits, firefighters will tend to not choose the 2½-inch line. The end result is that firefighters will pull smaller lines, delivering lower than required flows.

This article focuses on the large-flow preconnected handline with a different twist to it: using two-inch hose for the preconnected high-flow handline to make this big-hit line easier to deploy.

Why Two-Inch?

Two-inch hose has been around for several years. The advantages have been for slightly elevated flow and reduced pump discharge pressure (PDP), which reduces engine rpm, reducing wear and tear on the equipment.

The question that comes to mind is whether a two-inch attack line will provide the flows that a 2½-inch line can produce. In the majority of the cases, I would say yes. Take a look at the 2½-inch nozzles in use today. You will find that the majority have flows that top out at 300 to 325 gpm.

The reason for going to two-inch hose is to make hose deployment easier-especially for one firefighter. Whether the staffing on your engine company is four firefighters, three firefighters, or even two firefighters, when a first-in engine company is faced with enough fire to warrant the initial line being a 2½-inch, let's face it-you don't have enough people. This is where the two-inch line comes into play.

The flow tests comparing two-inch and 2½-inch hoselines used smooth bore nozzles. Because the two-inch will have a higher friction loss at high flows, a nozzle with a low nozzle pressure keeps the overall discharge pressure as low as possible. (Photos by author.)

Flow Study

Charts 1 and 2 show 2½-inch and two-inch lines at 200 feet with corresponding flows and PDPs. The two-inch hose is manufactured by Key Fire Hose and is the ECO-10 line. We tested the standard two-inch with 1½-inch couplings weighing 20 pounds per 50-foot section as well as two-inch hose with 2½-inch couplings, which is a new concept. The reason for the 2½-inch couplings is to reduce the friction loss. The tradeoff is two more pounds for the larger couplings (22 pounds total).

The nozzles used for this test are smooth bore tips for a 50-psi nozzle pressure. Because the two-inch will have a higher friction loss at the high flows we tried to achieve, a nozzle with a low nozzle pressure kept the overall discharge pressure as low as possible. The flows for the 2½-inch star

By Paul Graeve

It is a huge understatement to say that most fire chiefs do not have an IT background. But in today's world, managing an IT department has become part of a fire chief's job.

Every year, as gear and trucks continue to become more advanced and connected, fire chiefs find themselves managing IT infrastructure far beyond anything they ever imagined. Moreover, as these advanced trucks and gear capture more and more data, the size of fire departments' IT budgets increases. By the year 2020, your fire department will be collecting and managing 40 times the data you're currently managing. This is a daunting challenge facing every fire chief.

However, by embracing Software as a Service (SaaS), departments can dramatically simplify their IT requirements and slash their IT budgets. Imagine a world where an entire IT department consists of a $100 per month Internet connection. By embracing SaaS, such a reality is possible. You can put your fire department on a path to reach this goal right now.

Make It a Goal

To help start moving toward this goal, make sure all software products your department purchases from this point forward are SaaS solutions. Push your current software vendors to move toward providing you with an SaaS solution by letting them know that this is your goal. Start exploring alternate SaaS solutions to meet your needs.

SaaS Advantages

SaaS as a service works by providing software over the Internet that departments use through any Web browser. VineLight Fire Intelligence is an example of fire service software being delivered as SaaS. There are numerous advantages SaaS offers over traditional software. First, and most importantly, SaaS runs on a vendor's servers, not on a department's servers. SaaS eliminates the need for departments to purchase and manage their own servers. This dramatically slashes IT expenses as it eliminates the need to purchase servers, firewalls, and the IT staff required to maintain them. If a fire department had nothing but SaaS software solutions, it could quite literally cut its IT department to nothing but an Internet connection and a laptop or tablet for administrative personnel.

Another advantage of SaaS is immediate software releases. When an SaaS vendor adds features and enhancements to its software, they are available immediately the next time a department logs into its system through a Web browser.

Probably the biggest advantage of SaaS is cost. Typically SaaS software is sold as an affordable annual subscription that costs a small fraction of purchasing traditional software. VineLight's average fire department pays VineLight around $3,000 a year for an annual subscription. To purchase such a business intelligence platform and get it set up to meet a fire department's needs would be at least $100,000 and probably significantly more. SaaS vendors can charge so much less for their solutions because they are able to spread the expenses of their servers and software licenses over all their customers.

Critical Consideration

One critical thing to know about SaaS is that a department is shifting storage for its data from local servers to an SaaS vendor's database servers. Thus, it is critical that when a department negotiates its SaaS contracts it ensures that its service level agreement (SLA) with its SaaS vendor clearly states:

• The department still owns its data and all the rights to that data.
• The vendor agrees to share the department's data with other SaaS vendors of the department's choice.
• The vendor agrees to share the department's data via processes and methods that the department specifies.
• The vendor will not sell the department's data to anyone without the department's written consent.
• The vendor will back up the department's data in multiple locations to ensure it is never lost as a re

By Bill Adams

Fire pump manufacturers customarily ship pumps and loose accessories in a crate to fire apparatus builders.

They can also ship complete fabricated pump modules compliant with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus. The modules, informally called pump houses, include the pump mounted on a contiguous subframe within an enclosure. Most are 100 percent finished with plumbing and controls installed, labeled, wired, tested, and ready for chassis mounting by the apparatus original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The process, while not new, can place OEMs and pump suppliers in unique, untested, and uncomfortable marketing relationships. It can also put apparatus vendors in equally precarious and unenviable positions. The intent of this article, focused only on midship pumps, is to explain the process and its advantages and disadvantages. It will address all sides of the spectrum. It will not take a side, indicate a preference, or make recommendations.

Although Mack delivered a custom pumper in 1911 with a Goulds pump mounted behind the driver's seat and ahead of the hose body, most early motorized rigs had midship pumps located beneath the driver's seat. Coinciding with the increased use of commercial chassis in the 1930s, OEMs started mounting pumps behind the cab at the front of, and sometimes even inside, the apparatus body. They installed pump enclosures, piping, and appurtenances after mounting the pump on the chassis. Many still are. Later designs featured removable pump panels and ultimately flex joints between the enclosure and the body. Eventually, most manufacturers mounted pumps inside separate free-standing enclosures, allowing the pump, plumbing, and controls to flex independently of the body. That principle is applicable today. Seagrave's Web site states that its pump house's "floating module design eliminates chassis stress transfer and provides long-term structural integrity."

Six prefabricated pump modules ready for shipment from the Darley factory. (Photo courtesy of W.S. Darley.)

OEMs-including Seagrave, Barton-American, American LaFrance, Darley, and Ahrens Fox-would only supply pumps they manufactured on their respective apparatus. Other OEMs purchased pumps from sole source suppliers, usually within restrictive contractual agreements. If you bought a Mack, you got a Waterous pump. If it was a Maxim, you got a Hale. There was no inbreeding. Civil litigation resulted in OEMs having access to all pumps available on the open market. When, where, and what parties were involved are irrelevant. Today, most pumps are purchased from Darley, Hale, and Waterous. An exception is Rosenbauer, which manufactures a pump that is only available through the Rosenbauer dealer network. This article does not address private-labeled pumps built by a pump manufacturer to a proprietary specification exclusive to and bearing an apparatus manufacturer's name.

Module Origins

Outsourcing and building pump modules didn't begin with the independent pump manufacturers. Apparatus manufacturers conceived it, albeit for varied reasons. The earliest is credited to W.S. Darley. Jason Darley of W.S. Darley's pump division says, "In the 1930s, we sold kits through our catalog to fire departments so they could build their own complete apparatus from the pump and plumbing to the body." Midship pumps in the Darley kits were, like all apparatus of that era, mounted directly to the chassis frame rails.

Four decades later, apparatus manufacturers started building their own free