Editor’s Opinion Chris Mc Loone
Happy New Year!
With the holiday season complete, it’s time to get down to it and start getting back to maintaining and improving our fleets. 2024 has come and gone, and you’ve read the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment outlook for 2025. You’re ready to start researching your next major purchase. As you start putting together your budgets and your committees for apparatus and equipment purchases, there are some things I’d like you to keep in mind.
First, data. It sounds so boring— the word data. It conjures images of spreadsheets and computers and doesn’t include all the fun aspects of fire apparatus design. Yet, the data you have at your disposal in your fire department are what will help you build the most appropriate rig for your reality.
Data are sometimes hard pills to swallow. Career departments use data all the time to plan their rigs. Certain aspects of their response they will already know. They will know what their staffing will be. On the volunteer side, you could plan a rig for the staffing you could have for the rig, or you could plan it for what your data are telling you. If you design for six seats in the crew cab, do your data tell you that’s the right call? Are they telling you that on nine calls out of 10 you’re only responding with a crew of four? If so, why are you spec’ing six seats for the crew cab? Plan for your reality and trust your data.
Second, think about the various dominoes that fall based on a single decision. I’ve often mentioned trade-offs for rigs—if you want one feature, you might have to give up another feature. Low hosebeds come to mind. Often to get the lower hosebed, you need to reduce the size of the tank if you want to maintain the same overall length. It’s a trade-off. But, I’m talking about the dominoes that fall based on one decision.
These days, fire apparatus costs have increased. Your budget for a pumper, for example, has increased. You are under pressure to stay within that budget. And, as you look at the costs of various components, it is true that you might be able to, for example, increase the size of your water tank for only a fraction of what the overall budget is for the truck. That’s an easy choice, right? But, here is where the dominoes start to fall. Let’s say you add 250 gallons of water— you go from a 500- to a 750-gallon tank. What does that do to the rig overall? Does it increase the size of the engine to move the extra 2,000 pounds the extra water will add? The tank is now bigger, so chances are that’s heavier too. And, what does that do to the axles and suspension on the truck? Do they need to be beefed up to support the extra weight? Suddenly you’re potentially in the thousands of extra dollars for the rig.
And what about the seating? Fewer seats might mean you don’t need as wide a cab. What’s the difference in price there?
Sometimes simple decisions on a rig cause a ripple effect that could increase the cost of the truck and exceed your budget. These days, staying within your budget is more critical than ever. Plan the rigs based on your data and be realistic about it.
We all make resolutions at the beginning of the year, and at least I know that I have a hard time keeping them. As you plan your apparatus and equipment purchases this year, make your resolution to ensure you are being realistic about that which you’re purchasing. Plan for your people.
Speaking of your people, don’t forget to give them a piece of the pie. Buy-in from your personnel is critical to designing not only a usable but a brandable rig. We all take great pride in the fire apparatus we design and maintain. Give them a voice and empower them to help you make the important decisions about the rig.
Finally, don’t forget about maintaining the apparatus. Keep your maintenance personnel in mind as you design the rig. Don’t build something that will be impossible to service in an acceptable amount of time. Those ripple effects I mentioned earlier impact the shops too.
