Archive for March, 2009

Cab “Stuff”

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

by Robert Tutterow

A considerable amount has been spoken and written about seat belt usage and the lack thereof. However, loose bodies inside the cab of a fire apparatus in the midst of a collision or rollover are only part of the problem. All the other “stuff” inside the cab will become projectiles unless they are securely fastened.

Maybe you have seen the graphic footage from a video camera mounted inside a cab during a rollover at one of the crash test facilities. The good folks at CAPE (Center for Advanced Product Evaluation), a brand of IMMI (Indiana Mills and Manufacturing, Inc.), just outside of Indianapolis have made such videos for fire apparatus cabs. One of the most “wow” moments if viewing their videos is to watch the unbelted firefighter slam against the belted firefighter. It’s the body blow blitzing linebackers can only dream about.
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NFPA releases new Apparatus Maintenance and Testing Standard

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

by Tom Stalnaker

What’s new in fire apparatus standards? There are over 200 committees of volunteers that help the NFPA develop standards for many subjects relating to fire safety. One of those committees deals with standards for Fire Department Apparatus. Almost 10 years ago this committee realized that the existing standards for pump testing (NFPA 1911), aerial testing (NFPA 1914) and preventative maintenance (NFPA 1915) did not comprehensively cover all the issues related to testing and maintenance of in-service apparatus. We began a process to pull together the existing standards with new material developed to cover the gaps, in order to create a new standard. Out of this process came NFPA 1911 Standard for the Inspection, Maintenance, Testing, and Retirement of In-Service Automotive Fire Apparatus 2007 Edition which is now available.

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First snow day in 30 years?

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

FRC almost *never* closes for snow! At least we never did when the shop foreman used to be the plow guy! But now since his Bronco sits rusting in the parking lot and we have to pay a “professional” to plow us out… FRC actually had to close down for the Nor’easter this past weekend. Neocles thinks this is the first time we’ve closed since 1978! In all seriousness we might have closed anyway – many employees live in eastern Suffolk which got the brunt of the storm, in some places with drifts over 2 feet high. With a thick blanket of ice under the road surfaces, travel was treacherous. Here’s a shot of the facility after we’d gotten mostly dug out. FRC didn’t get as much snow as some parts of Long Island.