The largest fire industry trade show held each year in Indianapolis during the Fire Department Instructors’ Conference (FDIC) opens April 10. It is often the venue for new product introductions.
One thing is certain. The SCBA booths by Scott, MSA, Avon-ISI and Sperian Fire (formerly Survivair) will see high traffic this year. These are the only four SCBA manufacturers that met the new National Fire Protection Association certification standards that went into effect in September 2007. (See separate story on Page One about Sperian, the latest manufacturer to be certified.)
The 2007 Standard is especially tough. It requires severe high heat and water immersion tests. Two manufacturers still haven’t passed. This is the same update to NFPA 1981 which initially called for each pack to have a universal air bottle connection system and that all air bottles be interchangeable between brands.
Back in 2006 we strongly editorialized against this additional requirement because it made no sense. Nobody — even proponents of the idea — could cite a single instance where a firefighter was injured or fire suppression operations were hindered due to a lack of air.
It takes 20 minutes for a hard-working firefighter to use up a 30-minute bottle. It takes less than five minutes to refill that bottle. NFPA already requires that two bottles be carried for each SCBA, and another section mandates a 30-minute rest period after a firefighter uses up two consecutive bottles. This provides 50 minutes for a cascade system to refill the first used-up bottle. Where’s the problem?
Departments solved the refill situation light years ago. Large city departments have Mask Service Units, like FDNY’s built by Hackney that carry 286 spare bottles. That’s a lot of air, and FDNY has five such units.
All bottles have a universal refill valve and can be filled from one cascade system regardless of the manufacturer. There was no need to change fittings on all future SCBA so they would interchange with the proposed “baby blue”-colored universal bottles. To do so would have meant that as of last August, every department in the country would be carrying two different types of bottles as soon as they bought a new, 2007-compliant SCBA. And that would have gone on for at least 10 years, or the life left on the old bottles.
Fortunately, NFPA received more than 100 written comments from fire chiefs all over the country objecting to the “universal bottle” idea, and it was voted down by the technical committee on SCBA.
Where would we be today had all the manufacturers been required to agree on the design of a universal bottle and regulator connection? And how much more would it be costing fire departments to purchase two new-style bottles for each new SCBA. As it is, list prices for the new 2007-certified units run from $6,000 to as much as $10,000 depending on options.
As of this writing, the only NFPA Compliant SCBA are the Scott Air-Pak 75 and NxG7, The MSA FireHawk M7, the Avon-ISI Viking Z Seven, and the Sperian Warrior. Plan on spending a good half-day at the FDIC trade show to compare the various units.
Everything is still in an undetermined state at American LaFrance since the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in January. President Bill Hinz announced the company would contact customers, who have some 290 fire trucks on order, and provide a new delivery schedule by early March. (See our news story for more information on the bankruptcy status.)
We’re expecting that there will be some companies offering surprise new apparatus models at FDIC, which would be welcome news.
E-ONE recently had its most positive annual dealer meeting since anyone can remember. And it wasn’t all hype.
The company’s new apparatus line introduced at FDIC last year has taken off as far as sales, but more important, deliveries are coming off the line on time and with few or no final inspection punch-list corrections.
When one fire department picked up its new apparatus at the Ocala, Fla., plant in January, the chief and committee members found zero correctible items needed. That’s a tribute to the E-ONE employees who’ve put attention to quality first.
A lot of credit goes to president Peter Guile who is reacting quickly to input from his dealers and taking advantage of some breathing room resulting from executive changes at parent company Federal Signal Corp. in Chicago.
Dealers know that what customers value most is on-time deliveries and little or no post-delivery items needing attention. And that’s becoming the norm in Ocala.