AMERICAN LAFRANCE received an order for 17 pumpers and aerials from Jacksonville, Florida, as the first phase in a plan to upgrade the city’s fire apparatus fleet. During the next year, 15 Eagle pumpers and two 100-foot American LaFrance LTI rear-mount platforms will be delivered, representing 20 percent of Jacksonville’s fleet. The city also took delivery on 15 American LaFrance MedicMaster rescue vehicles recently.
The first 50 BULLARD thermal imaging devices were distributed to New Jersey fire departments under a $7.5 million program intended to equip all the state’s 750 departments. Additional devices will be produced at the rate of 100 per month until all departments are equipped.
STREAMLIGHT announced its ProPolymer™ flashlights are Underwriters Laboratories listed for use in Class I, Division 1 locations.
SCOTT HEALTH AND SAFETY appointed Luann Freund industrial marketing manager. She will be responsible for the introduction, promotion, support, and development of Scott’s new and existing industrial health and safety products.
IMAGING AND SENSING TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION (IST) has acquired AIM SAFE-AIR PRODUCTS, LTD. AIM, which produces a line of industrial toxic/combustible gas and oxygen detection and monitoring instruments, will be part of IST’s Analytical Instrumentation Group, which produces environmental monitoring instruments.
CAIRNS PROTECIVE CLOTHING has named Richard O. Barr general manager. He will be responsible for expanding the sales base and dealer support for the turnout clothing manufacturer.
QUALITY MANUFACTURING won a $15 million contract to supply fire apparatus to the Atlanta (GA) Fire Department. The Spartan Motors, Inc. subsidiary will build and deliver 43 apparatus to the department beginning in October. The order includes 30 1,500-gpm pumpers, nine 105-foot tractor-drawn aerials, two 105-foot midmount aerials, and two 100-foot platform units. All of the vehicles will feature Spartan Motors’ custom chassis.
VFIS announced the retirement of Ray Hawkins, who served as director of training and education for 11 years with the emergency service insurance provider. He was responsible for nationwide coordination and delivery of education and training programs for fire, rescue, and EMS responders and the development of special curricula to serve the changing needs of the emergency services community.
SOUTHERN MILLS, INC. named Philip S. Vincent chief executive officer. Vincent joined the fire apparel fabric manufacturer in 1972. Doug Ellis will continue as chairman of the board. Vincent is a past president of the Georgia Textile Manufacturers Association.
EMERGENCY ONE introduced the new Pro Series body design and process that allows customers more options to meet their specific needs. Solid-model engineering software allows E-One customers and dealers to customize new trucks by selecting the desired packages and options. The software provides comprehensive as-built schematics that include wiring and plumbing diagrams for each truck when the customer has finished the selection process.
“Through our extensive dealer network, the Pro Series offers customers the ability to custom specify a new fire truck,” according to Jay Johnson, director of marketing for E-One. “Additionially, the Pro Series software also allows us to be more productive in delivering new trucks to customers and providing superior customer service. “
The Pro Series units offer structural integrity backed by a 20-year standard warranty and the designs have been rigorously tested for quality and durability. The body design was proven on a shaker table testing cycle in a 150-hour trial at an independent testing facility. Compartment doors also met endurance expectations in a 40,000-cycle test with a 35-pound load attached to the door pan. Notable aesthetic improvements include flush compartment doors with rotary latches.
E-One has successfully completed a corner crash impact test using its CycloneT II cab. The test simulated a front-corner collision, the most common type of accident involving fire apparatus.
In the corner impact test, the Cyclone cab was positioned at a 49-degree angle from a 3,730-pound pendulum weight that imparted more than 32,000 pounds of energy into the cab. The average acceleration force was measured at 33.89g (33.89 times the normal force of gravity) and the impact caused no significant intrusion into the passenger area.
In a static roof load test, the cab roof held 54,300 pounds, 21/2 times the amount required by the ECE R-29 standard, a European benchmark for crash testing and safety in the commercial trucking industry. The test was performed on the same cab that was impacted twice in previous testing.
“These new test results serve notice to the fire rescue industry that E-One has raised the bar for manufacturing quality and durability. As an industry leader in safety, E-One is at the forefront of keeping firefighters safe,” said Wilson Jones, vice president of sales and marketing.
In a joint contract with Continental Contract Developments, Ltd. of Worcester, England, E-One will provide the Royal Danish Air Force with 18 airport rescue firefighting (ARFF) vehicles. E-One will supply the Titan HPRTM 626 cab and chassis, and Continental will supply the body and plumbing systems.
NAMES IN THE NEWS
ROBERT W. NELSON of Industrial Risk Insurers received the NFPA Standards Medal for his contributions to the development of NFPA codes and standards as a member of various NFPA technical committees. He has served on the Explosion Protection Systems, Agricultural Dusts, and Liquified Petroleum Gases Advisory committees, among others.
DR. JAMES A. MILKE received the NFPA’s 2000 Harry C. Bigglestone Award for his paper “Monitoring Multiple Aspects of Fire Signatures for Discriminating Fire Detection,” which appeared in Fire Technology in 1999. Milke is an associate professor of fire protection at the University of Maryland.
