Profile of the Mobile Equipment Bureau
The main objective of the Mobile Equipment bureau is to ensure that all vehicle repairs are completed satisfactorily and in a timely manner. The bureau also handles a variety of other tasks such as repairing handheld radios and pagers, installing vehicle radios, and stripping reusable material. In addition, it repairs all small portable equipment such as power spreaders and cutters, exhaust fans, K-12 saws, and so forth. The bureau is responsible for more than 3,000 pieces of equipment.
Through the Mobile Equipment Bureau, the fire department monitors the Dade County shop facility, directed by the Fleet Management Division of the county G.S.A. All vehicle and equipment repairs are processed and coordinated by the bureau. This office also reviews and coordinates vehicle specifications, modifications, and warranty repairs and oversees the allocation of loaner pool and reserve vehicles.
The Metro-Dade Fire Department fleet has 301 vehicles. The fleet is divided into two categories: heavy fleet and light fleet. The heavy fleet consists of 97 vehicles including front-line and reserve pumpers, tankers, squrts, 100-foot aerials, ALS rescue units, and specialty units. The light fleet consists of 204 vehicles including compacts, sedans, station wagons, cargo vans, passenger vans, suburbans, pickups, step vans, jeeps, scooters, and electric carts.
EMS units and some suppression units travel an average of 20,000 miles per year. Consequently, the life cycle of a heavy vehicle is five to seven years on the front line and two years as a reserve. The life cycle for a vehicle in the light fleet is five to seven years. Each of these cycles has been extended at least two years by the Mobile Equipment Bureau to cover delays in the receipt of new replacement apparatus.
