At the International Association of Fire Fighters’ recent Redmond Symposium on firefighter safety last month, I had the opportunity to sit in on the “Apparatus Maintenance Round Table.” Five panel members included Chief Jeff Bowman, San Diego (Calif.) Fire Department; Kevin Roche, Phoenix (Ariz.) Fire Department; Bill Troop, USFA Research Division; Ralph Craven, Hale Products; and Alan Saulsbury, Fire Spec Services.

Several points were raised that emergency vehicle technicians should know about.

One panel member asked the audience for a show of hands. “How many fire department’s do annual pump tests?” he asked. All but a few raised their hands, and those few frustrated fire department members said they were well aware their departments didn’t do regular pump tests.

The panel agreed that it was just as critical to do an annual pump test as an aerial test. Chief Bowman, also chairman of the NFPA 1901 Committee said, “We’re trying to raise the awareness of pump testing because we were able to do it on aerials with the standard."

Craven asked the audience how many departments did non-destructive aerial testing? “If it doesn’t take six to eight hours to do a nondestructive test, you’re not getting your monies worth,” he said.

Chief Bowman said that when he was a chief in Anaheim, Calif., he asked manufacturers to move sirens and lights to the bumpers of fire trucks. They told him they couldn’t do it. It wasn’t until Avionix, a company in Anaheim, drilled the holes in a bumper that a manufacturer agreed to move the sirens.

All panel members strongly recommended testing after a vehicle accident. Seems like a no-brainer? You’d be surprised. Fire trucks are put back into service without an inspection.

Another firefighter in the crowd asked the panel what to do about a chief that wouldn’t authorize repairs to a fire truck. The panel made several suggestions to help resolve the problems.

At the end of the 90-minute program, one of the firefighters stood up and thanked the panel. “This is the kind of information we need to keep firefighters safe.”

Fire apparatus safety is a serious concern for the emergency personnel that ride the rigs, citizens on the same roads and the fire chief that is ultimately responsible.