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Alan M. Petrillo

"All our vehicles are on a replacement cycle of 20 years of front-line service and five years in reserve before they are replaced," says Mike Owenby, Warrenton's chief. "We have about 10 miles of Interstate 70 that run through our fire district, which means lots of motor vehicle accidents and tractor trailer accidents. That's why all three of our engines are set up as rescue-pumpers."

Pump Panel Location

Warrenton's truck committee produced a list of the things it liked about a 2009 rescue-pumper it had purchased from Rosenbauer and then spent a lot of time looking at other vehicles in neighboring departments. "The committee made a lot of changes to what we wanted in our new rescue-pumper," Owenby points out. "They wanted a rear-mount pump and a pump panel at the rear of the officer's side to protect the operator when working on the interstate. We also wanted our extrication tools mounted in the front bumper and our crosslays at the rear of the vehicle."

Brian Franz, executive vice president of Sentinel Emergency Solutions, who sold the rescue-pumper to Warrenton, says he delivered a rear-mount rescue-pumper to Lincoln County, Missouri, in 2012 and told the Warrenton truck committee it should take a look at it, which they did. "Once they saw that pumper, they were sold on the rear-mount concept," he says. "Their new vehicle has a shorter wheelbase than their older side-mount pumper, and it has at least 100 cubic feet more storage space, with full height compartments on both sides."

Todd McBride, apparatus specialist at Rosenbauer, says one of the main advantages of a rear-mount pump with a pump panel at the left or right rear is the field of view that it offers the operator. "With a setup like that, the operator has a 270-degree field of view of a scene instead of 180 degrees like you would find on a side-mount pumper," he points out.

McBride adds that the Warrenton rescue-pumper carries a little bit more water than most rescue-pumpers. "Warrenton chose to have a 1,000-gallon water tank plus two foam tanks of 40 gallons each-one for Class A foam and the other for Class B," he says.

Another interesting feature of the rig, McBride says, is its kneeling feature. "The rear axle has an air ride suspension where the operator can push a button on the pump panel and lower the rear of the vehicle about six inches so the rear step and hosebed are even more accessible," he notes.

Preconnects and Rescue Tools

Robert Tutterow

The topic has been an issue for the past eight years and was one of the hot topics this past July at a meeting of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Technical Committee on Fire Department Apparatus. A recently released National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study, "Safe Seating and Seat Belts in Fire Apparatus: Anthropometric Study," clearly indicated that the minimum seat width for 95 percent of firefighters to have adequate room to buckle a seat belt is 28 inches. The current minimum is 22 inches-a width that many custom cabs barely meet. Anthropometry refers to a study of body measurements. This particular study involved measuring almost 1,000 firefighters from across the country with and without turnout gear. The Technical Committee received a "public input" to increase the width to the 28-inch minimum standard. The input did not pass the vote of the committee. For reasons discussed in the prior two months, it had no support. The official committee action was to "hold for further study."

According to the NFPA standards development process, "hold for further study" means the proposal will automatically be brought up again for the next revision-in three to five years but most likely in five years. Unless the fire service begins to insist on wider seating configurations, the issue will likely be rejected again because of the same arguments presented this past year. The NFPA process will not allow an input or comment to be held for further study more than once.

Fresh Cab Design Approach

NFPA standards can be used to advance improved design and technological changes, especially for safety issues. Some NFPA technical committees are more proactive than others when setting standards to advance a problematic issue. The NFPA Technical Committee on Fire Department Apparatus has a very conservative approach to standards revision. It will typically only make changes that every apparatus manufacturer already does or can very easily accommodate.

The "hold for further study" was a way for the committee to "kick the can down the road." The chances of "further study" are slim and none, and the safe bet is on none. Firefighters aren't likely to shrink in the next five years. A more appropriate term would be "hold for further development," but that is not a choice in the NFPA standards development process.

It will be interesting to see if any, or how many, manufacturers aggressively and proactively address the issue. More importantly, though, will be whether or not firefighters and fire departments start insisting on adequate seating width. As I said in previous columns, there are very few custom cabs that currently meet the proposed 28-inch minimum width. Improvement will likely require a fresh approach to cab design. Maybe the European designs can be modified to suit the North American fire service. At one time, John Dennis Coachbuilders, in the United Kingdom, made apparatus without frame rails by using truss construction. This allowed the engine to be lowered by several inches. There have also been apparatus designed around a rear-engine-mount bus chassis. Maybe a fresh approach to engine cooling and serviceability for midengine mounts needs consideration. If the fire service fails to press the issue, the manufacturers will assume all is well. This will result in the same discussion for the next NFPA revision cycle and will again result in no progress. Unfortunately, the substantia