The NFPA needs your input!

The NFPA 1500 committee needs to hear your input on why the Exterior Fire Attack Position is important in fine fuel areas! Unfortunately, you must do this via the NFPA website with a unique user name and password. We have created a step by step set of instructions to complete this process.

 

Input must be submitted by the deadline 5/16/2016.

 

Download instructions

Apparatus with an Exterior Fire Attack Position Currently on the Market

These pictures were taken at the TEEX Municipal Vendor Show in College Station, TX. All but two of these trucks have positions behind the cab. One truck has a position on the front bumper and one at the rear of the truck.

 

Current Manufacturers of an Exterior Fire Attack Position

 

Skeeter Brush Trucks (Kirby, Texas)

http://www.skeeterbrushtrucks.com/index.php

http://www.skeeterbrushtrucks.com/owners.php

https://www.facebook.com/skeeterbrushtrucks

 

Wildfire Truck & Equipment Sales (Alvarado, TX)

http://www.brushtruck.com/default.asp

http://www.brushtruck.com/recent.asp

 

Neel Fire (Waco, TX)

http://www.neelfire.com/trucks/wildland.php

 

Midwest Fire (Luverne, MN)

http://midwestfire.com/apparatus/quick-attack/brush-trucks/

http://midwestfire.com/customers/deliveries/?type=Wildland&model=All+Models&style=All+Styles&zip=Zip+Code&radius=&filter=true

 

Hays Fire & Rescue (Hays, KS)

http://www.haysfireandrescue.net/Truck_Gallery_OCWG.php

 

Deep South Fire Trucks (Seminary, MS)

http://deepsouthfiretrucks.com/brush-trucks/

 

Emergency Fire Equipment (Mayfield, KS)

http://www.e-fire.net/home/trucksapparatus.html

 

Maintainer Custom Bodies (Rock Rapids, IA)

http://mcbfire.com/deliveries/quick-attack-george-ia/?recent=1

 

Chief Fire & Safety (Chickasha, OK)

http://www.chieffire-safety.com/deliveries

 

Danko Emergency Equipment (Snyder, NE)

http://www.danko.net/apparatus/flatbed-wildland-attack

http://www.danko.net/apparatus/mega-flatbed-wildland-attack

http://www.danko.net/new-deliveries

 

Unruh Fire (Sedgwick, KS)

http://www.unruhfire.com/brush-trucks/

http://www.brushtrucks.us/

 

Weis Fire & Safety (Salina, KS)

http://weisfiresafety.com/fire-trucks/quick-attack

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Weis-Fire-Safety-Equipment-Company-Inc/164252860263620

 

1st Due (Bartlett, KS)

www.1stdue.com

 

AMI-Fire Equipment (Brenham, TX)

http://www.ami-fire.com/inventory.asp?cat=475

http://www.ami-fire.com/results.asp#mid

 

Daco Fire Equipment (Fort Worth, TX)

http://www.dacofire.com/?q=node/126

 

Steele Fire Apparatus (Haskell, TX)

http://www.sfabrushfiretrucks.com/smbrush.html

http://www.sfabrushfiretrucks.com/lgbrush.html

 

Turnkey Industries (Magnolia, TX)

http://www.tkind.com/emergency-vehicles.html

 

Westex Fire (West, TX)

http://westexfire.com/gallery/2623544

 

1st Attack (Waterloo, IN)

http://1stattack.com/trucks/fire-trucks/

 

Metro Fire (Houston, TX)

http://www.mfas.com/index.php/fire-trucks/arlington3

 

Kyrish Government Group (Killeen, Texas)

http://kyrishgovt.com/brush-truck/

 

Crow Construction (Cashion, OK)

http://www.crowconstruction.com/brushpumper.html

 

J&J Custom Fire (Red Rock, OK)

http://www.jandjcustomfire.com/index.html

http://www.jandjcustomfire.com/galleries/garber.html

http://www.jandjcustomfire.com/galleries/hawley.html

http://www.jandjcustomfire.com/galleries/perry.html

http://www.jandjcustomfire.com/galleries/skedee.html

 

Company Two Fire Apparatus (Varnville, SC)

http://www.companytwofire.com/Public/InventoryVehicle.aspx?id=8112

 

Southeast Apparatus (Corbin, KY)

http://www.southeastapparatus.com/2014-deliveries.html

 

Pierce (Appleton, WI)

http://www.piercemfg.com/en/trucks/federal-government/wildland.aspx

 

Cooper Creek Mfg (Loyal, OK)

http://www.coopercreekmfg.com/index.htm

https://www.facebook.com/CooperCreekMfg

 

Heiman Fire Equipment (Sioux Falls, SD)

http://www.heimanfiretrucks.com/equipment.php?equip=wildland

 

Blanchat Manufacturing (Harper, KS)

http://www.blanchatmfg.com/

http://www.blanchatmfg.com/trucks

 

If Blanchat is building 40 trucks per year with an exterior fire attack position, how many total trucks are being sold in North America with 29+ manufacturers selling the exterior fire attack position on their apparatus?

 

How many of these new exterior fire attack positions are sufficiently safe in the event of an impact or roll-over?

- Greg Blanchat

 

What Fine Fuel Firefighters Say

• I am a 23 year veteran of a large metropolitan fire department surrounded almost entirely by what can easily be classified as a Wildland Urban Interface. We have mutual aid packs with all of our surrounding fire departments and we respond to numerous grass fires year, both within our fence line and in other jurisdictions. I have a few concerns with the restrictions placed on our firefighters which do not allow them to pump and ride during wildfire operations, specifically situations containing fine fuel and flat terrain. The first is the danger firefighters who are walking face from other apparatus operating in a smoky environment. The second is the extreme conditions faced by firefighters during summertime operations, many of whom are volunteers. Lastly, the departments using pump and roll operations in wildfire situations is arguably over 90 percent.

   

  I understand the restrictions placed on firefighters in rugged terrain where the likelihood of rollover is considerably increased, but conditions faced by most departments in the Midwest are very different from those faced in mountainous areas of the country. We face a terrain and a fine fuel combination which cause fires to spread quickly and enables the smoke to remain close to the ground, affecting visibility for everyone on the fireground. Wildland fires in the Midwest are fought with small hand lines supplied by grass rigs and large tankers designed to run the fire line and quickly knock down the large, fast moving fire front which the fine fuels create with only moderate winds.

   

  Many of the newer grass rigs are designed for a firefighter to operate a hand line while safely riding on the rig. The firefighters walking along side or in front of a grass rig are in constant danger from large tanker trucks operating in the area because of the constantly changing visibility conditions in the area. The speeds at which tender trucks used to supply water and those used to apply water to the fire front are constantly putting firefighters forced to walk in danger due the poor visibility levels normally encountered.

   

  The second issue is the age and condition of the average volunteer firefighter, in rural areas of the Midwest, are often less than optimal. Most of the volunteers that have the time and the flexibility to consistently participate in fighting a wildfire are retired or well established in their careers. While this affords individuals the opportunity to participate in extra activities and training, it usually occurs after a person has passed their prime physically. The fact that volunteer firefighters are not required to pass medical physicals or meet physical requirements puts them at a higher risk during strenuous activity. Temperatures consistently reach into the 90’s and often well over 100 degrees, during the wildland fire season, compounding the stress firefighters are exposed to. The ability to fight fire from an apparatus, when operating in suitable terrain, will greatly reduce the strain and risk to firefighters who are already in a higher risk category as far as their health is concerned.

   

  Even though standards do not allow pump and roll operations most people have witnessed the practice while on a grass fire in the Midwest. The combination of the quick burning fuels, high winds, extreme temperatures, the age and physical condition of many of the volunteer firefighters, causes most departments to allow its members to ride on a grass rig while fighting a grass fire. While not a scientific fact, it is a reasonable estimate that up to 90 percent of the departments allow some degree of pump and roll operations while the firefighters ride somewhere on the apparatus other than the seats within the cab of the vehicle. It would make more sense to control how the operations are to be safely carried out than to continue to ignore the fact that these operations are being used during wildland fires. The practice of pump and ride operations is so ingrained in the culture of the rural areas of Midwestern states that the subject is almost taboo. The practice is not discussed during planning, safety meetings, operations, or demobilization. Larger departments who follow their protocols, do not engage in pump and roll operations, are usually engaged in operations with dozens of smaller departments over which they have no official jurisdiction.

   

  As a member of the Tulsa Fire Department, Oklahoma Incident Management Team, the Oklahoma State Fire Marshals Commission, a Red Card asset for the Osage Tribe and a member of Oklahoma’s Urban Search and Rescue team(OKTF1) I have had the opportunity to be deployed to many incidents in the Midwest, many of which have been wildland fires. I have seen the value of safety regulations when it comes to protecting the firefighter and the citizen, but the restriction on pump and roll operations can actually puts firefighters at greater risk of harm because of the exposure to the elements, the physical limitations of older firefighters, and the limited visibility on the fire ground.

   

  The risk involved in riding an apparatus in a non-traditional seat has historically been proven to be higher, but with the advances in harness and restraint systems that risk has been greatly reduced if not eliminated. Combined with the advantages of not exposing firefighters to unnecessary risks of walking while apparatus are operating in the area and reducing the heat stress the average volunteer firefighter is exposed to it makes little sense not to allow pump and roll operations on relatively flat terrain. I personally believe that it is time to develop standards on how these operations are to be conducted and under which conditions and types of terrain the operations will be allowed, reducing the danger to firefighters operating at a wildfire.

  Stan May
  Tulsa FD
  Tulsa, OK

   

• I have been a volunteer firefighter for over 30 years and fire chief for 14 of those years. Our fire district is in the middle of the sand hills of Nebraska. It covers over 1,300,000 acres of mostly fine fuel grasses. Our fires can burn miles in a short time. in 1999 one fire burned over 25 miles in less than 10 hours. Totaling 72,000 acres taking 30 hours to put out. In saying all this there is no way that we can effectively put our fires out without riding on trucks. If we put a team of trucks together we can knock down fire at 5 to 8 miles per hour. If we had to walk beside trucks we would never be able to keep up with our fires. I think that fine fuels and forests should be in different classifications and can have different standards. We would not be able to get people to volunteer if they had to walk and put out fires.

  Dan Daly, Fire Chief
  Mullen VFD
  Mullen, NE  

• Currently our department has the capability with two apparatus to pump and roll with a firefighter safely buckled into a harness and protected by a rollover protection system. This system, created by Blanchat Manufacturing, was researched by our department and compared to many other systems and we believe it is the safest on the market and have seen its use as essential on the Urban interface and Wildfire scene.

   

  Firefighter safety is always first with our department, period. This style of rollover protection gives our department the capability to fight fire with the precision and effectiveness of a firefighter at the controls of the nozzle nestled safely in a protective enclosure. Our department views this as an advantage over the use of a monitor because of precision and conservation of water. This system also allows for the firefighter to be evacuated from the hazards of the fire scene in an expedient manner without the possibility of being hit by the apparatus while keeping the fatigue factor low for our personnel. With wireless communication capability included, it also provides a wider, more efficient view of the scene by the firefighter while the driver can concentrate on safe driving practices. We plan on adding additional apparatus of this configuration as our community grows and our Urban Interface fires increase. They have been essential to our firefighting needs and are under heavy demand by our mutual aid departments because of their safety and effectiveness.

  Stewart D. Bryan, Fire Chief
  City of Greenwood Fire Department
  Greenwood, AR  

• I am volunteer firefighter with over 20 years’ experience on a department in a rural area. In reviewing the comparison between walking a fire line and utilizing the exterior fire attack position, the fire attack position holds every advantage. Safety being of the utmost importance gives all of the obvious advantages to the fire attack position. The firefighter is further away from the fire, heat, and smoke, thus making him/her less susceptible to burns, heat exhaustion, or smoke inhalation. Using the fire attack position the firefighter is not subject to walking into dangerous obstacles such as downed power lines, holes, tree limbs, or any other unknown hazards. The firefighter is not as likely to become fatigued and suffer the physical dangers of falling down, becoming entangled, or being struck by another truck. The firefighter secured into the exterior attack position with roll over protection is indeed far more protected than a firefighter walking the fire grounds.

   

  Aside from the safety advantages of using the exterior fire attack position, the tactical advantages are just as great. The fire truck can maneuver into a more favorable position for attacking the flames. The fire truck can rapidly and with ease move toward the head or the rear of the fire. The firefighter in the exterior fire attack position can see all the way around the truck and easily communicate with the driver. The firefighter can select from a choice of charged lines to operate, and is often able to increase or decrease pump pressure thus creating the desired GPM for the fire. The ease, speed, and much greater effectiveness of the fire attack position makes walking the fire line an unnecessary risk. With lives and property on the line, every second counts. The NFPA 1500 committee needs to address this situation and implement whatever measures necessary to provide every fire department with the known advantages of the exterior fire attack position.

  Gary Ummel Jr., HFD Captain

   

• I agree that a change needs to be made. As a volunteer fire fighter it is not ideal to walk beside a truck. There are many risk factors to that if the smoke is heavy enough the fire fighter walking could be seriously injured by the driver a long with many other possibilities. I believe a roll cage added to a wildland apparatus is entirely the way to go. It will be safer and faster to allow this change. Please understand when you are out there putting your life on the line anything to limit accidents should be considered.

  Tyler Schrant
  Oklahoma Volunteer FF

 

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