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The Finest Supporting the Bravest!

The purpose of the Fire Mechanics Section is to promote standardization of fire apparatus and equipment preventative maintenance, improve safety standards and practices, promote workshops, conferences, and seminars related to the purposes of this Section, and to promote cost savings through standardization of building and equipment purchasing and maintenance.

RECENT FIRE MECHANIC NEWS

Posted: Jun 9, 2022

Fairview (AL) Seeks New SCBA Equipment

The Fairview Volunteer Fire Department is looking to upgrade outdated SCBA equipment, reports cullmantimes.com.

The department’s current SCBA equipment is 20 years old and was last certified in 2019, according to the report.

Department officials have applied for a grant that would allow for the purchase of 15 new units at about $9,000 each. They’ll find out if they’ll get it in September.

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Posted: Jun 9, 2022

Photo of the Day: June 9, 2022

Smeal—Charlotte (NC) Fire Department 100-foot mid-mount platform quint. Spartan Gladiator EMFD flat roof cab and chassis; Cummins X15 600-hp engine; Waterous CSUD-TC20B 2,000-gpm pump; 300-gallon polypropylene water tank; Harrison 10-kW generator. Dealer: Steve Dill, Atlantic Coast Fire Trucks, Denver, NC.

MORE FIRE APPARATUS ARTICLES>>

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Posted: Jun 9, 2022

Rurally Speaking: Is This Why We Can’t Have Nice Things?

Carl J. Haddon

The spirit of the American emergency services volunteer seems to be alive and well, even though our numbers are dwindling quickly. Recruitment and retention are still the biggest challenges, with very few people having more (than less) time to volunteer. Volunteering requires a whole lot more of our time than it used to, and our collective pool of volunteers doesn’t seem to be getting any younger.

Ever-growing demands of time surrounding training, maintaining certifications, continuing education credits, and often having to travel for hours simply to find a certification testing site, simply works against volunteer agencies being able to grow and retain their numbers of volunteers.

In my very rural part of the country, we not only have our volunteer fire departments (of those, a number of which do not do any type of rescue or EMS work), we have two volunteer ambulance services, and a volunteer search and rescue service that handles all rescue and extrication calls. Imagine, if you will, the struggle for grant dollars to keep each of these three wonderful services afloat. If search and rescue is working a grant for a new rescue truck at the same time that one or more of the volunteer fire departments are working toward a new or newer apparatus, they’re often competing against each other for the same grant money.

A few weeks ago, our local county Emergency Services Director asked me if I’d help them toward obtaining an EMS grant, that was specifically funding new extrication tools. The grant is being administered by our state Health and Human Services. The requirements for the grant seemed straightforward enough to me, but as it would play out, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Related Articles:
Rurally Speaking: Do You Spec and Vet Specialty Training Programs?
Rurally Speaking: Extreme Winter Sports Require Extreme Winter Rescues—Is Your Department Ready?
Rurally Speaking: Where the Rural Apparatus Tire Meets the Road
Rurally Speaking: Keeping Rural Fire Departments in the Dark; What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us

The Emergency Services Director for our county asked me for my teaching credentials/IFSAC or Pro Board certs and my Curriculum Vitae (as I volunteer to teach fire/rescue/EMS classes for our organizations). After providing all that was asked of me, the gentlemen from State Health and Human Services said that I needed to provide them with a specific certificate that shows “I’m qualified to teach an operations level extrication program.”

To say I was flabbergasted with their reply would be putting it mildly. My Level 2 IFSAC/Pro Board instructor certs, 20-plus years as an instructor, and my 35-plus years in the career and volunteer fire and EMS service didn’t suffice? I called all over the country to other agencies and a host of fellow instructors asking if anyone had ever heard of such a thing. Nobody had. That was when I had to go back, re-read the email, and look to see who and what agency was administering this grant. Did I mention that it

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Posted: Jun 8, 2022

Northwest (TX) Fire Department Donates Tanker to Beech Grove

The Beech Grove Volunteer Fire Department announced that Tuesday it took delivery of a 3,000-gallon tanker donated from the Northwest Volunteer Fire Department:

“Members of the Beech Grove VFD traveled to Northwest Volunteer Fire Department in Harris County this morning to accept the donation of a 3,000-gallon tanker truck.

“Northwest VFD and Harris County ESD 20 selected the Beech Grove VFD as the recipient of the donation of the 1994 Freightliner/KME 3,000 gallon tanker, refurbished in 2015.

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Fire Mechanics Section Board

Chair

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Chair

Elliot Courage
North Whatcom Fire & Rescue
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Vice Chair

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Vice Chair

Mike Smith 
Pierce County Fire District #5
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Secretary

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Secretary

Greg Bach
South Snohomish County Fire & Rescue
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Director #1

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #1

Doug Jones
South Kitsap Fire & Rescue
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Director #2

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #2

Paul Spencer 
Fire Fleet Maintenance LLC
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Director #3

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #3

Jim Morris
Mountain View Fire Department
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Director #4

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #4

Arnie Kuchta

Clark County Fire District 6

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Director #6

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #6

Brett Annear
Kitsap County Fire District 18
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Director #5

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #5

Jay Jacks
Camano Island Fire & Rescue
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Legislative Representative

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Legislative Representative

TBD
TBD
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Immediate Past Chair

Posted: Oct 20, 2015

Immediate Past Chair

Brian Fortner
Graham Fire & Rescue

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