Letters to the Editor
departments
Hand Tubs to Super Pumper
Battle Creek, Mich.
I am somewhat disturbed by the article “From Hand Tubs to Super Pumper,” by Paul C. Ditzel in the November issue of Fire Engineering.
The American Fire Pump Company came out with the first patented front mount pump for fire apparatus in 1922 and we produce the only 1250-gpm front mount pump in existence. American Fire Pump has been building centrifugal pumps since 1873. The American front mount pump has never been successfully duplicated and over 80,000 are now in use worldwide. In addition, American Fire Apparatus Company has, for decades, been one of the largest manufacturers of fire apparatus and has exclusively used American Fire Pump Pump Company front mount and midship pumps. The American companies were one of the original associate members of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, yet nowhere in the article is American Fire Pump Company or its pumps mentioned.
The article gave coverage to a piston front mount pump that hasn’t been manufactured for 20 years, yet American’s pump continues to lead the field. It is so successful that we have now designed the “Plain Jane” series of fire trucks using the front mount pump, that is an overnight, overwhelming success worldwide.
I feel that this is a serious slur on our companies and the important part we have played in the development of the fire service industry.
Quentin D. Anderson, Sr.
General Marketing—Sales Manager
American Fire Pump Company
American Fire Apparatus Company
Editor’s Note: The article “From Hand Tubs to Super Pumper’’ was an attempt by the author to compress 100 years of history into five pages of a magazine. There was no intent to play up or play down any product. We regret that American Fire Pump Company and American Fire Apparatus Company were not included in this history.
Praise (or December Editorial
Atlanta, Ga.:
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the editorial, “Resources Allocation and Acceptable Loss,” in the December issue. I feel better to know that someone else thinks along these same lines.
As an ex-member of a medium-size fire department, and having served in fire prevention for six and a half years, I tried many times to say what you said in your editorial in just a few words. It did not take me long to realize that without an effective code enforcement program, you might as well be shoveling against the tide.
Your statement, “You can educate school children and housewives on fire prevention from now ’til kingdom come, but this education will have no effect on arson or code violations,” was exactly what I tried to tell my superiors to no avail, and was the primary reason why I wanted to be transferred to the suppression force. I realized that very little was going to get done along these lines and which in a rapidly growing city was so very vital to the overall fire prevention effort. I knew that one day in the future needless lives would be lost in unsafe buildings because of lack of proper code enforcement.
Because I had the guts to speak out for what you said in your editorial, I was belittled, and threatened, which prompted my resignation from that department. I am no longer with the fire service, even though I had many hours of training and have been dedicated for the past 12 years, managing to acquire an associate degree by attending night school for five years. If I never work another day in the fire service, I still feel that I told the people the truth and not what the politicians wanted them to hear.
Please keep up the good work and continue to tell it like it is.
Gerald B. Perkins
An Ex-Fire Captain
