By Alan M. Petrillo There’s been a quiet revolution in lighting on all types of fire apparatus, and light emitting diodes-better known as LEDs-are leading the charge. LEDs have many advantages over other types of lighting devices: They draw less ...

By Alan M. Petrillo Depending on their specific needs, fire departments are saving money, time, and effort by tagging onto an existing apparatus purchase contract by another fire department. Most departments find there are a number of substantial advantages to ...

By Alan M. Petrillo Depending on their specific needs, fire departments are saving money, time, and effort by tagging onto an existing apparatus purchase contract by another fire department. Most departments find there are a number of substantial advantages to ...

Alan M. Petrillo Component manufacturers have made great strides to fine tune various pumps, monitors, and nozzles so those pieces of equipment give the best performance when being operated in wildland and urban interface environments. And, new ways of handling ...

Bill Adams When writing apparatus purchasing specifications, many fire departments procure the services of individuals or entities not affiliated with the fire department-outsiders. Except for those purchasing apparatus regularly, most departments don’t have personnel with the time or expertise to ...

Alan M. Petrillo The Bakersfield (CA) Fire Department covers a wide swath of territory within the Bakersfield, California, city limits-144 square miles with a population of more than 347,000 people-with 180 firefighters working 14 pumpers, three ladder trucks, and a ...

Alan M. Petrillo Evolving computerized technology has had an impact on many facets of modern life, allowing people to be connected in ways that even a dozen years ago might have seemed a pipe dream. And, that evolving technology has ...

  (1) Eagle Fire Co. #1 of Mount Wolf, Pennsylvania, chose to replace an aging pumper with a 2011 KME Predator six-person cab and chassis pumper that serves a dual role in having more compartmentation for rescue equipment. (Photos courtesy ...

Most apparatus on the road today has some form of scene lighting in addition to its required emergency warning lighting. The scene lighting ranges from truck-mounted “quartz” lights, to portable scene lighting powered by portable cord reels or reels mounted ...

The KME pumper purchased by the Tunbridge Volunteer Fire Department is built on an International 7400 SFA 4×4 cab and chassis and is equipped with a FoamPro 2002 Class A foam system and Waterous 1000 Pneumax CAFS. When Tunbridge Volunteer ...