Larry Labarbera is the maintenance and resource superintendent for the Mesa Department. Though not a firefighter, he has been a part of the fire service for more than 23 years, and he is responsible for apparatus acquisition and maintenance procedures.

The Fire Maintenance Division is charged with keeping the fire department’s fleet of vehicles in peak condition to minimize any out of service situations. The scope of that responsibility includes the maintenance of a fleet of 160 vehicles that cover a radius of 132 square miles.

Beyond apparatus and fleet repairs, the Fire Maintenance Division handles additional responsibilities.

"We take care of small equipment and SCBAs," Labarbera said. "We even maintain our rescue tools, evacuating tools and chainsaws. All of that equipment is handled in-house on the fire maintenance side.”

There are a few specialty repairs that Labarbera will send to outside vendors, including transmissions and engines. The maintenance division at Mesa is focused more on preventative maintenance. Because the maintenance on the vehicles and apparatus is so regular, many issues are caught prior to problems arising.

The second area of responsibility under Labarbera’s supervision is the Resource Management Division which, among other things, operates a warehouse and handles fire station building maintenance needs. The warehouse staff receives, stores, and issues the fire station supplies, medical supplies, and parts that are needed to maintain the trucks. The resource-management staff handles the requests for building maintenance needs and forwards the information to the city’s Facilities Maintenance Department or other vendors to initiate repair.

The vehicle specification process, led by Labarbera, is a joint effort with Mesa Fire Department. “We jointly develop our specs and lay out a plan for how to configure the vehicle and utilize the storage compartments for our equipment,” said Labarbera referring to himself, the firefighters, senior staff and maintenance team.

The department’s “Fire Maintenance Procedural Manual” outlines the process that begins with meeting with the equipment users (to ascertain the exact performance needs) and continues with meeting with the department’s apparatus team for input, and then presenting that information to senior staff. Once the department acquires the apparatus, the process is finalized by collecting data from the appropriate crews through the department’s New Apparatus Evaluation Form. This final process is completed approximately four months after the new apparatus is in service. Labarbera uses the information from the survey tabulations for future apparatus purchases.

The Mesa Fire Department runs its front line trucks run for eight to ten years for a total of 150,000 miles, followed by serving on a reserve status for an additional three to five years. Labarbera said the maintenance team monitors the condition and mileage of the fleet (including all apparatus and vehicles), and, using a cost per mile study, determines the need for replacement based on certain criteria. The established criteria include:

• Usable life cycle (cost per mile/excessive breakdowns)
• Availability of replacement parts
• Outdated safety features and technologies (e.g. ABS, interlocks, pressure governor controls, pump systems, wiring systems, handling and braking ability, etc.)
• Innovative firefighting tools (e.g. compressed air foam systems)
• Compliance and inspection to meet NFPA standards (e.g. safety, pump, aerial)
• Vehicle Emission Compliance