You are undoubtedly inundated with vendors and different people trying to sell you the latest and greatest tools, whether that’s an extinguishing system for electric vehicle fires, a battery system for your own extrication tools, or fans or your SCBA.
In this special series coverage, Making the Cut, FireRescue1 helps you evaluate your many options, ensuring that you focus on what matters the most. And in this video, I’m going to take a high-level look at what you need to do to make sure you’re making the right decisions.
Some key takeaways:
- Look for the UL listing when evaluating tools. Too often we see knockoffs or damaged goods.
- Determine which tools are compatible – and if there’s a way to keep costs down by procuring compatible products.
- Do your due diligence from a design perspective so your engine has space for all the different tools you need to carry.
- Vet your vendors however possible: Are they part of a vendor network? Did they work with a neighboring department? Are they part of a purchasing collaborative?
- Keep your mission top of mind. At the end of the day, the mission is what matters.
Bottom line: We need to make smart decisions related to the processes, the vendors, the purchasing contracts and all those different things that allow us to get the right tools in the right place to be able to do the right things at the right times.
