Firefighter protective apparel manufacturers SECURITEX™ and FIREGEAR™ are now brands of STX PROTECTIVE APPAREL. STX Protective Apparel will also add an Engineered by STX™ signature brand to new specialty products that will be introduced in the future. New logos will represent STX Protective Apparel and its established brands. STX Protective Apparel will continue to promote its Securitex™ and FireGear™ brands separately to the fire services market. STX Protective Apparel operates in the United States as STX Protective Apparel Corp. and in Canada as STX Protective Apparel Inc.
STEWART & STEVENSON is expanding its Fire Apparatus Service Division to be more comprehensive and broaden its service area throughout the western United States, including California, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Existing facilities in these states currently service and repair other commercial vehicles and will add highly skilled fire apparatus service and repair to their offerings. Currently, Stewart & Stevenson operates fire apparatus service centers in San Leandro, California; Dallas, Texas; and Denver, Colorado that offer EVT/ASE certified technicians, 24-hour emergency service, a large parts inventory, and service/repair for all makes of fire apparatus.
The Mobile Service Unit (MSU) coverage area will expand to the 10 western-state area. The fully equipped MSU provides “anytime, anywhere” apparatus service, offering “Custom Fleet Care” to customers that need on-site fleet service and maintenance. In greater San Leandro and Dallas, the Stewart & Stevenson MSU dispatches for equipment breakdowns that occur on the way to or at an incident scene.
Stewart & Stevenson also provides consultation services for fleet evaluations, specification writing, acceptance testing, component failure, and apparatus training. The company’s fire apparatus mechanics are trained in pump and specialized fire equipment repair and attend the local state fire mechanics’ academy annually for certification. Its certified welders can repair steel and aluminum aerial devices of all types and are skilled in repairing old components and in installing new ones representing the latest technology.
Additionally, Stewart & Stevenson offers training classes modified to meet customers’ needs. Classes can be held at the customer’s facility or at a Stewart & Stevenson service center.
FDM SOFTWARE has received a contract to install a comprehensive fire records management system (RMS) that includes GIS and CAD interfaces for the Chattanooga (TN) Fire Department. The application is expected to be fully implemented by May 2003. The Chattanooga Fire Department’s 400 firefighters serve 155,500 citizens and respond to approximately 12,000 calls from 16 stations annually. The city sought a contract with a single vendor for all software, software maintenance, installation, conversion, and support. FDM will allow consolidation of several applications and databases and NFIRS 5.0 reporting. The FDM RMS modules installed in Chattanooga will operate as enterprise applications integrating automatically with other modules for seamless information flow. This modular system will allow the flexibility to add additional modules in the future when technology requirements change. The new RMS will operate over the FDM E-Business Server (FDMeBiz), allowing users full access to FDM RMS over the Internet and through remote and wireless workstations using standard TCP/IP. The Chattanooga Fire Department also purchased the FDM Importer Utility, a program that enables the fire department to independently manage data imports from other city department sources on a continual basis.
FEDERAL SIGNAL CORPORATION’s Fire Rescue Group’s consulting agreement with Alan Saulsbury following the sale of SAULSBURY FIRE RESCUE, INC. in 1998 ended at the end of 2002. Alan Saulsbury remained with the organization after the acquisition and provided leadership in many areas of market development for the company. In addition, he has contributed his time to service on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1901 Fire Apparatus Committee and the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association (FAMA).
SAFETY VISION, which provides mobile video surveillance, named Chris Beard sales representative. Based in the Dallas area, he will be responsible for marketing all Safety Vision products globally.
The NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION (NFPA) named Robert Duval of Wauregan, Connecticut, New England regional manager. Duval recently served as the NFPA’s senior fire investigator and will continue in that role as needed. Duval, with established professional contacts with many of the state-level code adopting and enforcing agencies in New England, will be responsible for the promotion, adoption, and use of the NFPA’s National Fire CodesT, consensus codes, and standards, including NFPA 5000, Building Construction and Safety Code™. He will also represent the NFPA at code hearings, legislative sessions, and allied organization meetings.
Duval served on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s designated Building Performance Assessment Team looking into the collapse of the World Trade Center.
MAG INSTRUMENT, INC., manufacturer of premium flashlights, donated $25,000 to the NATIONAL FALLEN FIREFIGHTERS FOUNDATION (NFFF). The funds allowed the survivors of fallen heroes to participate in such events as the Foundation’s 2002 National Memorial Weekend in Washington, D.C., which was held in October 2002. The weekend included sessions with trained grief counselors and tributes to all American firefighters who died in the line of duty in that year, including six Californians and 344 victims of September 11. Mag Instrument donated thousands of flashlights to aid in the search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center and Pentagon disaster sites, to the Oklahoma City Red Cross to help rescue workers in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City Bombing, and to troops fighting in the Gulf War.
The nonprofit RECHARGEABLE BATTERY RECYCLING CORPORATION (RBRC) announced that any public agency that wishes to participate in its Charge Up to Recycle!T battery-recycling program may do so free of charge. In 2001, the RBRC omitted fees associated with its community recycling program. Starting in January 2003, the program will be available at no charge to public agencies, too, including federal, state, and local governmental agencies; public hospitals; police and fire departments; and military institutions. The RBRC will handle the collection of all small portable rechargeable batteries, including nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd), nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH), lithium ion (Li-lon), and small sealed lead (Pb)* rechargeable batteries; provide two- or five-box collection kits at no cost; and pay for all shipping, materials, processing, and recycling costs. For more information on implementing a recycling program through a public agency, contact the RBRC at (678) 419-9990. Web site: www.rbrc.org.
