This is my last issue as senior editor of In Service Online. I will retire at the end of 2008 and let someone else have a turn.

When I started writing about fire apparatus and equipment, I searched for topics that would be both informative and useful -- topics that fire service personnel needed to know, but that were not being covered. I quickly discovered the biggest need was for explanations of basic subjects that affected everyone. As I write my final issue, I think those same basic subjects are as important today as they were when I started. Here are a few that I’d like to share with you.

Preventive maintenance. In this issue, I wrote an article titled “Just Do Something”. One of my recommendations was that every department should establish a preventive maintenance program. I’ve written about this subject many times before, and it is important enough to repeat here. If your department performs maintenance on apparatus and equipment only once a year, you don’t have a preventive maintenance program. You probably don’t even have a good prescribed maintenance program. The manufacturers of many items require inspections or adjustments once a quarter or once a month, and some checks have to be performed once a week or once a day. Tires, drive belts, fluid levels, drain valves and many other areas need to be checked frequently in order to prevent problems -- that’s why it’s called preventive maintenance.

EVT qualifications. Only qualified persons should work on emergency vehicles, and different components require different qualifications. Those two principles form the basis for establishing EVT qualification standards. Qualifications may come from formal training, on-the-job experience, individual studies or standardized testing. All fire mechanics and emergency vehicle technicians should be qualified to work on the specific systems and components found on vehicles in their departments -- otherwise that work should be taken to an outside shop with properly qualified technicians. Technicians should also understand the need to maintain their qualifications by learning about changes on newer apparatus as well as re-certifying their existing skill areas periodically.

Safety. This is not just one of those apple-pie-and-motherhood concepts. It’s really serious, maybe even deadly serious. A genuine concern for safety should affect how departments specify, operate and maintain all their apparatus and equipment. No one should be injured or killed because of poor specs, improper procedures or a lack of maintenance. This is true no matter how tight your budget. Although some safety improvements have a price tag, others are essentially free. Wearing seat belts, performing proper maintenance and enforcing out-of-service criteria are some good examples in the free category. So are attacking wildland fires from the burned area, using ground guides when backing up and keeping firefighters off the outsides of moving apparatus.

NFPA standards. These standards are long and sometimes difficult to read. Departments that take the time to understand them, however, will find a wealth of information and gain a better insight into the construction, performance and maintenance of fire and rescue apparatus and equipment. All specifications and procedures should comply with the appropriate NFPA standards. Despite what some departments think, the NFPA standards are widely accepted industry standards that have legal weight in court. Failure to comply with them places departments in serious legal liability if anyone is injured or killed while using the apparatus or equipment.

Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the items on the ISO rating schedule are how most departments in the United States are evaluated. And the results of that evaluation determine the property tax premiums for almost all commercial and residential structures in a department’s response area -- sometimes costing each property owner hundreds or thousands of dollars a year more, or less, in taxes. Buying apparatus and equipment without understanding how a particular item will, or will not, affect your ISO rating doesn’t make any sense. All departments should understand what their ISO rating is, why they got it and how future apparatus and equipment purchases will affect it. In some cases, you could spend a million dollars and not affect your rating at all.
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Thanks to all of the readers of In Service Online. I have appreciated the opportunity to share some ideas with you and hope that they have been of value. If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably emphasize many of the same basic subjects -- the philosophy that you should “start with the basics and build from there” is still a good one. It’s worked for me, and I think it could work for everyone. Although this is my last issue, the publication will continue in good hands. Look for lots of useful information about apparatus and equipment specifications and maintenance in future issues.