As the chairman of the NFPA 1901 Committee's Aerial Task Group, Jim Salmi leads a group of eight to 10 members through informal preparation work leading up to the next edition of the standard. He tells FIRE CHIEF Editor Janet Wilmoth that NFPA 1901, Automotive Fire Apparatus, is normally on a five-year cycle but recently has been on a three-year cycle.

What happens in the Aerial Task Group between 1901 editions?

The Aerial Task Committee has a fair amount going on in NFPA 1911 [Service Tests of Fire Pump Systems on Fire Apparatus] in the consolidation of the pump testing and aerial device testing and maintenance. The task group … as individual members has been involved in how we can consolidate this document and get all the right information in there and minimize the implication — if you will — which is possible especially between the specifying and maintenance series.

Where does that stand now? If an aerial is going to be worked on, must it be third-party — certified?

The plan in the rewrite of the standard is to put more credentials to be required for the third-party testing companies. Right now, it's a little bit vague in what is required for the testing companies and less vague than what people are trying to interpret it as; we're trying to make it more meaty. One of the things being contemplated is that the manufacturer will have some ability to approve companies to do the testing of their aerial devices. What's happening in the field is that the testing companies don't have the proper data or the right background to perform some of these tasks, so until the 11th hour they're not calling the manufacturers and just doing the test, which isn't particularly fair to the end user.

There definitely will be more teeth in the standards as far as the credentialing of testing companies and whether that holds or not will be how the committee votes and the pubic comment.

The standard is pretty strong today. It's pretty much “we don't want the fox guarding the hen house here,” so that the weld inspection, the stability testing, and the whole long list of tests that need to be performed by someone that does not have a financial stake in the delivery of the truck to the customer.

Now that the standard is in effect, what is the impact on fire departments?

The 2003 edition came into effect on any vehicles sold after Jan. 1, 2004, so those items within the standard that were put in place are impacting the customer, and they need to comply with those standards. Now the standards are voluntary standards, but by and large, most people treat them as a pretty strict guideline, particularly with long-term legal concerns, particularly if you build a product that doesn't comply with the standard, then what is your liability exposure both from the manufacturer and the fire department perspective?

Is there anything in NFPA 1901 that is posing a problem for departments?

If we talk in the aerial section of the standard, I don't think there's anything that is particularly troublesome. Basically, I think from the 1991 edition of the standard, there's been some teeth put in the requirements for ladders and we haven't increased those or walked away from those.

Basically, in the last standard revision, what we've actually done is to cover devices that weren't necessarily “club-covered” in the prior standards, because large-capacity water towers were primarily used in the petrochemical-type refineries and there was some additional information provided by those applications to industrial.

Are Snorkels considered aerials?

The NFPA 1901 standard in Chapter 20 covers all types of aerial devices; that includes water towers, and a Snorkel would be in the class of an elevating platform. If you don't have a ladder on the platform, it still needs to meet the elevating platform requirements. If you do have a ladder, then it needs to meet the requirements of an aerial ladder that's designed for climbing, which means minimum handrail heights and some specifics including rung safety and specifics of the ladder standard.

On the Snorkel, since it's not a climbing device, it just needs to meet the criteria of the elevating platform sections of the specs, which defines capacity and operating parameters and hydraulic systems.

Are suspensions different on a vehicle if it's an aerial?

Generally speaking, aerials are some of the heaviest vehicles produced and so consequently, attention to suspensions is more of a concern. There are a lot of air-ride suspensions, more comfortable type of suspensions that are going on aerial devices. There are independent ride suspensions being offered by a couple different manufacturers, too. There's probably more of a variety of suspensions on aerial platforms.

Where are aerials going?

There's a lot of customer interest, and I think you can break the market into the city markets and the suburban and volunteer sectors. City markets tend to gravitate to products that are simple and easily maintained and keep the vehicles in service as much as possible.

The suburban/volunteer sector, especially the affluent suburban sector, tends to be the one that puts in the newer items. They're always looking at what's what at the last trade show vendor base and they try to move to it. Others put more electronics on it for more of a broader-ranging lights and instruments and such. The City of Chicago doesn't put a lot of glitz on their trucks, but if you go to a volunteer fire department in Pennsylvania, they end up with a lot of stuff. I think the trend is going to continue.

The other thing that I see going forward is that the population is being less mechanical. They didn't grow up working on cars, they didn't come off of a farm, so products are going to need to be very easily maintained and easy to operate. I think you're going to see that manufacturers are going to do that in one of two ways, in either [making] the method of troubleshooting more computer-oriented or by designing the product so the maintenance becomes almost obvious just by looking at it. I think those are some of the trends in the future.

We look at guys who are 25 to 30 years old; what they're accustomed to is a joystick or a laptop computer. They're not real comfortable with instruments or mechanical tools, so provide the electronics for the diagnostic side to troubleshoot, and keep the mechanical repairs as simple as possible. I think that's a very possible trend.

That's going to put a lot more responsibility on the manufacturers, isn't it?

It certainly is. The odd thing about fire trucks that I've encountered many times is that somebody will introduce a very sizzling type of feature that as you look at it, you probably think it's not the best thing to put on a truck, but the supplier of that component does such a great job of speccing it to the customer, you end up having to supply it as part of the bid, and then you end up stuck trying to implement it and make it work effectively. I think in the long term, it's probably a real difficult thing for a manufacturer to accommodate because, “Your truck's bad because you included a component that you didn't want to put in it in the first place.” But they insisted that they have it and you knew it wasn't going to provide the reliability that they were hoping for. It's a trend that exists and it's a scary one for the manufacturers.

What happens eventually is that the market sours on the idea, but somebody suffers in the meantime both at the customer level and the manufacturer level.

That's probably true, especially now that committees are more involved in specifying apparatus. Everybody wants their thumbprint on the truck.

That's right. They all want their little nuances on it.

The other thing that is curious going forward, what we've seen in the past 10 years is the increased capacity for more this or that — more compartmentalization, more functionality on a single truck, particularly when you're considering an aerial device. The truck will do everything, but it's so big it's hard to get there now. It gets to be pretty heavy.

It hasn't happened yet, but the caution remains. Will the trend reverse and trucks look to become a little smaller again? Respond a little quicker and not prepared to do everything at a fire, but very well-prepared to do what it normally gets to do at a fire.

Is there anything else fire chiefs should know?

The challenge going forward is that … the technologies that are on aerials and platforms oftentimes come from mobile work platforms — the manlifts or the crane business — and those businesses are much more higher-volume businesses than aerials on fire trucks. We're not talking 500 to 600, but 5,000 to 6,000 a year. What's happening is that there are more and more electronics being incorporated in those types of devices, and that technology is being built into aerial devices as well. It's been there for awhile, but I think it will be an increasing trend.

The real challenge in the fire truck business is that it's an emergency vehicle so the systems are mission-critical and again, it's low volume, so the key is to provide the sophistication on the electronic side that provides value to the customer and lets him do something that he couldn't do before and provides the information that needs to be, yet make it reliable enough that the functionality is there so that the cold, smokey environment or the hot, steamy environment, which other trucks don't necessarily have to operate in. I think the technologies are incorporated in those products will be incorporated more, and the challenge is to maintain the reliability in a firefighting environment.

MATCH YOUR GENSET TO YOUR APPLICATION

Portable, diesel, gas, LP and hydraulic generators need to perform under the most rigorous conditions. In an emergency, high-quality performance and the right tools can save property and lives.

Here are some common fire-rescue vehicles and typical genset types and sizes used to power them.

Aerials mostly use a small diesel genset to provide the power needed for lighting, but they also can use a hydraulic generator. Frequently a 6-8kw range is sufficient for the lighting and various other tools. More and more fire vehicles are required to provide multiple services and/or become involved in more types of emergency situations. Future equipment should be considered before making a final decision on which generator to use.

Rescue vehicles normally use power-take-off and hydraulic generators. The 15-40kw offering of the PTO can operate the bottle-filling compressors and large light towers. The ability to mount the generator under the chassis also saves compartment space.

The alternative to using a PTO generator is a hydraulic generator, which has equal reliability and a power range from 6-25kw. Hydraulic generators have no engine, fuel supply or exhaust system. They can be operated at any engine speed, creating power on the go or while pumping. This offers an advantage over a PTO generator, which must be run at a constant speed.

Pumpers can use a hydraulic or diesel generator and may have a portable genset to power lights, vent fans or small extraction pumps. Most portables are gasoline, meaning mixed fuel on the truck. The small portable gensets are heavy to move, require additional maintenance and can be noisy.

Hydraulic generators offer flexible installation and compact size, making them easy to mount in multiple locations, including under the vehicle and on top. Another advantage is that you don't have to give up valuable compartment space.

Brush trucks, or off-road emergency vehicles, most frequently use portable gensets. But more and more departments are installing small diesel gensets or hydraulic generators. A 5-8kw range provides sufficient power for this application.

ARFFs use diesel generators as standard, and 10kw usually provides enough power to meet the requirements for external lighting. But as companies become more aware of the maintenance and installation costs and weight of diesel gensets, hydraulic models are being considered more often.

Command centers often have complex power requirements, including roof-top air conditioning, light towers, communications equipment, interior lighting and plug-in loads. There are several generator solutions to meet the requirements for these vehicles, including hydraulic, PTO, diesel, LP and gas models.

A trend in this application is power in excess of 40kw. Engine-driven PTO generators, combinations of diesel and gasoline, or multiple gensets for backup can be used for these vehicles' high power needs. An important issue when considering power for the command center vehicle is not just what kind of power requirements the vehicle itself might need, but what other power needs may have to plug into the vehicle.

Ambulances rely mostly on inverters and battery banks for their power needs. A pure sine wave is essential for many of the medical instruments used in the vehicles. While the genset power needs may not be greater than 6kw, space limitations keep gensets out of most vehicles. Some manufacturers offer small housed gensets, which are a good choice for a diesel-fueled vehicle used for high-risk transport such as a neo-natal ambulance. Some ambulances use gas gensets on an otherwise diesel-fueled vehicle.

Hazmat and quick rescue vehicles are frequently customized. Often a hazmat vehicle is customized to handle a spill or emergency at a refinery, chemical plant or other local industry. These vehicles can use a 15-30kw PTO generator or a 10kw diesel. Hydraulic generators also are being installed.

To select the right genset for your vehicle, determine what equipment you will run individually and simultaneously. Check the wattage requirements on each item (volts ∞ amps = watts). Total the wattages of all equipment to be run simultaneously. Electric motor starting may require up to three times the running power. Your dealer or distributor also will help you in determining the correct size genset for your vehicle.

Remember that regular service and maintenance is required to keep the genset in good working order. A typical and common, if not required, practice for departments is to clean, test and exercise equipment regularly to ensure availability in the event of an emergency. Your generator set should be tested and exercised at 50% load for a minimum of 90 minutes at least monthly, preferably weekly.
— Ann Gougebas, Onan Corp.

7 Critical Questions When Choosing a Suspension System

The main function of a suspension is to protect the cab, crew, chassis and mounted equipment from bumps and grinds. But equally important are its other functions: to support and evenly distribute the weight of the truck; to provide stability, rollover resistance and constant ride height; and to maintain wheel alignment — all without damaging itself in the process.

Here is a quick rundown of what to keep in mind when speccing a suspension.

How good is the ride quality?

Ride quality is especially important when it comes to mounted apparatus. The last thing you want to see are cracks and breakages in your aerial ladder and other equipment. Vibrational stress can cause serious damage to your equipment, as does continuous bouncing and jarring. Crew comfort is another important consideration; no one wants to arrive at the scene already beat up from being bounced around in the truck. Your ETA also is affected by ride quality. A rough ride means decreased speed to avoid road damage, which occurs not only to the truck and equipment, but also the suspension itself.

Keep in mind that there are some suspensions that require regular maintenance and repair, as well as eventual replacement. Shock absorbers or stabilizers also should be an integral part of the suspension, as they play a crucial role in damping road impact. What you want is a smooth, cushioned ride that protects both you and your equipment from impact damage.

Does it equalize the weight?

Weight equalization is the ability of the suspension to evenly distribute the weight of the load to all axles. Unequal weight distribution results in overloaded and damaged axles, poor traction, accelerated part wear, and potential transport violations. What you want is longer axle and suspension life, better traction, and no transport violation fines.

How high is the roll stability?

Low roll stability means the vehicle is easy to tip, causing steering and handling problems; poor, slow cornering; and increased part wear.

Extremely high roll stability, which is provided by more rigid suspensions such as spring and rubber block, also results in a rough, slow ride and is a contributing factor to road surface damage and wear. Therefore, a compromise between high roll stability and good ride quality is required. You want to safely increase your speed, improve the truck's steering and handling, and maintain a high level of stability.

What is the effect of having the truck up on stabilizers?

Stabilizers lift the weight of the truck off the suspension, which brings up even more questions and concerns. What effect does this have on a suspension? If it's an air ride, are the air bags compromised? What distance will the rear of the truck and equipment drop when returned to the road, and what is the resulting possibility of damage to rear-mounted overhanging equipment? How long will you have to wait for the air bags to re-inflate? What you want is a suspension that gives you a marginal drop of fewer than two inches in ride height when off air and air springs that refill quickly.

Will a suspension failure immobilize the truck?

What happens if the suspension breaks or sustains damage? Is the truck completely immobilized, or is it driveable? A broken leaf spring requires the removal of wheels and U-bolts, and a couple of people to lift the heavy spring. Some air suspensions also are immobilized when an air spring ruptures, even though a broken air bag is easily unbolted and replaced. In an emergency situation, the truck should be driveable even if the air suspension is deflated. You want a suspension that allows you to maintain mobility even when compromised, and parts that are fast and easy to replace.

How often is regular maintenance required?

The more moving parts a suspension has, the higher the maintenance. What attention is required? Weekly? Monthly? Semi-annually? Yearly? How accessible are the various components? Is greasing a requirement? Grease holds abrasive material, which in sandy environments may present a problem. How much wear and tear is normal, and which components will need replacing? You want a durable, suspension that requires minimal maintenance.

What is the weight factor?

Weight used to be a major factor in choosing a suspension, but new technologies are making it less of an issue. Component materials are constantly improving, and design changes to all types of suspensions are leveling out the field. You want a suspension of competitive weight that fulfills all your requirements and provides the best support for your truck and equipment.

The long-term benefits of a good suspension are well worth the time it takes to research your options. Ask for information on available suspensions, and choose the one that best fits your needs.
— JoAnne Simons, Correspondent