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 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  

• I understand that the NFPA is in the process of considering changes to 1906 section 14.4 standards (Exterior Attack Fire Position) that would allow for a pump and roll fire attack position on wildland fire engines. I have had wildland fire experience since 1959 both on the ground and as a T2 Incident Commander. I was a District Ranger for the USDA Forest Service for 25 of those years. During all of that time I have dug fire line, ran fire crews, operated fire engines, managed Incident Overhead Teams and worked with co-operating agencies, including volunteer fire departments. Fire fighter safety was always my top consideration. That is why I feel so strong that what you are considering must addressed. I would make the following comments for your consideration.

   

  Presently we have wildland fire engines that can drive up the road with the crew in the cab and set up to pump water to a fire or let someone walk along with the engine. That is good for that kind of a fires. But in the great Plains and other areas with fine fuels we need a different fire engine, that can pump and roll, that is built with safety standards and improved efficiency for fast moving wildfires. Most of this need is not meet with State or Federal agencies but with rural volunteer fire departments. An example is the State of Kansas which has 50 million acres of which 95% of all land is protected by rural volunteer fire departments.

   

  A number of people have been working on this issue of standard changes for a number of years. It is time to get the job done and make the needed safety changes. In the last three years I have seen a lot of fire engines being purchased by fire districts and counties that have the behind the cab walk through design but they do not have the safety features needed to protect the fire fighter. They are lacking the ROPS and other standards needed for safety. Fire fighters know the value of the design changes you are considering. Now NFPA needs to set the standards so vehicles will be built and used properly and safely.

   

  I have talked with fire fighters who work on the ground and a large number of them agree it is time to make some changes for the safety of the fire fighter working on the engines with fast moving fires in fine fuels. Sticking the nozzle out the cab window is not the answer. The proposed new standards being considered would make for a safe fire attack position on a fire engine and would allow for a behind cab, ROPS with stand-up/sit down, walk through access and proper safety harness.

   

  The fire fighters on the ground are asking for and deserve this change. Let us move forward to a safe future while building on the past.

  Joe F. Hartman
  USDAFS - Retired

   

• 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 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  

• I support the modifications to NFPA 1500 to include the capability to have exterior riding positions. I also believe you are correct that it creates a great health hazard for firefighters walking on the ground. I believe this needs to be added to the standard. All of our (homemade brush tucks in my little department) have this capability as do every other department around us. I believe the standard needs to be modified to allow for the safe operation of these vehicles. It does create a legal liability the way the standard is written now.

  David R. Fischer, Safety Training Officer
  NE Lincoln County Fire
  Cushing, OK

 

Read more