Fire Service Today September 07

The Atlanta IAFC trade show held Aug. 24 and 25 saw few big surprises as far as apparatus goes, but a lot of innovations in components and equipment.

The big news was that there was no big news about any SCBA manufacturer having a unit certified to the new NFPA 1981 Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus and the new NFPA 1982 Standard on Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS), both of which became effective Aug. 31.

All the major companies had SCBA on display, but no one could ship units pending independent, third party certification to the new standard.

Perhaps this will be a lesson to the NFPA technical committees writing standards for everything from apparatus to gloves. In the past, the fact that technology didn’t exist to meet the proposed standards was no barrier to NFPA, which said: “We want this; just invent it and we don’t care what it will cost the average fire department.”

Fortunately this NFPA 1981 standard doesn’t require that all air bottles be interchangeable between manufacturers. The proposed standard originally included a requirement that Scott bottles and MSA bottles be interchangeable with Drager and Survivair and ISI and Interspiro bottles.

That was the issue this magazine strongly editorialized against nearly two years ago, and it was finally dropped from the proposed 2007 standard.

We objected to air bottle interchangeability because there wasn’t a single documented incidence of any firefighter being injured or any firefighting operation being slowed down or discontinued due to non-interchangeable air bottles, including at the FDNY response to the 9-11 attacks where mutual aid came from everywhere from Long Island to New Jersey to Newport, R.I.

The air supply “problem,” if one existed at all, had long ago been solved by adoption of one of two resupply systems – air bottle trucks carrying hundreds of prefilled bottles or large compressed air cascade systems that refill empty air bottles from bulk supply tanks in minutes.

Those systems, combined with the fact that for each SCBA fire departments carry an average of three prefilled bottles, mean that, if anything, there is far more air available than ever needed on most fire scenes.Imagine how long we’d be waiting had that interchangeability provision remained in the final version of the 2007 NFPA 1981 standard which, as of this writing, hasn’t been met by even the largest SCBA manufacturers.

Elite Fire Apparatus of Tilleda, Wis., displayed its initial compressed air foam system (CAFS) pumper built to Montgomery County (Md.) specifications. Earlier this year the company reached an agreement to produce 36 more identical pumpers for the county.

(Elite Fire Apparatus displayed the first pumper in a 37-unit order for Montgomery County (Md.), at the IAFC trade show. The all-CAFS pumpers will be delivered at the rate of six every four months over the next two years.) (Staff Photo)

This first unit, scheduled as a training model, is going to the Montgomery Country Fire Training Academy, and the company looks forward to delivering six pumpers every four months for the next two years.

E-ONE’s new president Peter Guile appeared at his first IAFC show to introduce the company’s Comms-ONE vehicle, a mobile command and control unit built on a Chevrolet Suburban chassis.

(The Comms-ONE satellite communications vehicle is built on a three-quarter ton Chevrolet Suburban chassis with two rear-facing seats for console operators.(Staff Photo)

It features a roof-mounted satellite dish powered by Federal Signal’s proprietary suite of public safety software intended to provide “emergency communications, rapid disaster recovery capabilities and instant continuity of operations,” at any emergency scene.

Basically it is an interoperable communications system than can mix or match 20 radio channel signals and 50 cell-phone calls into one seamless communication system without interference.

According to Guile, Federal Signal’s public safety software “includes the SmartMsg and radio interoperability modules, which enables simultaneous text and voice broadcast of alert notifications to first responders with two-way radios, push-to-talk devices, PCs, PBX, IP-based, cell and satellite phones, pagers and wireless PDAs.”

At the same time, he said, “Federal Signal’s Predator mobile data module provides real-time access to local municipal and state databases, and enables Comms-ONE to manage a fleet of first responders from any location.”

And, he added, “Federal Signal’s VelocityCAD module can provide secondary command and control if an emergency operations center is rendered inoperable during a disaster situation.” He said, “Comms-ONE provides a satellite link to deliver landline, mobile two-way radio, Wi-Fi access and video in support of incident command and communications when critical infrastructure is unavailable.”

(E-ONE president Peter Guile, in front of the company’s new Quest pumper, attended his first IAFC trade show in Atlanta. Guile was keenly interested in the Comms-ONE SUV command and control vehicle.) (Staff Photo)

Guile sees this vehicle as the first major attempt by a manufacturer to solve all the communications interoperability problems arising at events such as the September 11 attacks in New York City.

Basically, the unit pulls in signals from disparate field sources and retransmits them to the intended receivers through satellite channels. Each Comms-ONE is delivered with two years of satellite lease time and the electronics can be updated in the years ahead.

The units are expected to sell for $300,000 to $325,000.

Fire Rescue International--Atlanta

This week the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is holding its annual Fire-Rescue International Conference & Trade Show.

Each year it is held in a different major city and this year the venue is Atlanta. Attendance is predicted at 17,000+ which is certainly far better than when the show was held in Denver two years ago. Atlanta is a lot easier to reach whether driving or flying.

The trade show, set for the Georgia World Congress Center, has roots going back to the late 1800s, making this show the grandaddy of them all.

A major question is whether or not any SCBA company will have a new model of breathing apparatus that meets the 2007 NFPA Standard and has been certified by the independent testing organizations.
This is the toughest standard yet and thus far--as of this writing--no SCBA maker has announced that it has a unit tested and approved at the new standard.

Well, there's 11 days left before it technically becomes "mandatory." NFPA Standard 1981 2007 Edition goes into effect September 1 and what action will be taken if no manufacturer can meet the new standard is still open to question.

While we are most interested in then "nuts and bolts" that will be introduced at IAFC-FRI, there wil be four days of great seminars on solving problems facing the fire service today.

The trade show opens at 10 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday this week. We hope to see you there. Drop by our booth Number 4623.

Getting started . .

Ok, we're off with this Blog.
First time ever trying to write something for immediate publication on a web site. Supposedly this is easy but for someone who started writing with a typewriter some 40 years ago, we'll just have to see how it goes.

At least I type QWERTY which is more than can be said for millions of people who are more adept at writing a Blog than I. So we'll give it a shot.

IAFC Conference and Trade Show
aka Fire-Rescue International

Next week the IAFC Trade Show will be held Friday and Saturday the 24th and 25th in Atlanta. This is the country's second-largest show and the place to see everything new in fire apparatus and emergency equipment. Our magazine will have a booth so drop by and say "Hello."

American LaFrance:

American LaFrance is still getting settled in their 450,000 sq. ft. plant in Summerville, SC just of Interstate 26, so they've set the big opening celebration for late October. Every chief who has a new ALF on order--or is contemplating a purchase--should arrange for a plant visit. Although they are still in the shakeout phase, the plant is designed to take advantage of every state-of-the-art manufacturing systems known.

E-ONE

We will know more next week as to how E-ONE is integrating the managment changes there which took place last month. However everyone who wasn't at the FDIC show in Indianapolis should visit the E-ONE booth at the IAFC show in Atlanta next week.

E-ONE has been getting a great reception to its new Quest pumper and its Urban Pumper, each of which has a lot of attractive elements. In addition, its lower-priced Tradition custom line of pumpers has an all new look that was overshadowed at FDIC by the other new lines. Check out the Tradition series at Atlanta.

Magazine Readership Survey

We just mailed 1,000 questionnaires to fire departments in every state in connection with your two-year readership survey where we look for input from YOU. The surveys were distributed according to population, so if you or your depatment gets one, please fill it out and mail it back asap.

More updates to this blog will be posted Saturday . . . in the meantime, you are welcome to participate and ask questions or tip us off to interesting developments in your area . . .
I am emailed a personal copy of everything that's posted and I want to thank the guy who said, "Hey, get on the ball. You aren't updating daily as you said you would."

Well . . . now we've started. . . --Peter

August 2007 Column

Fire Service Today

By by C. Peter Jørgensen

The news from E-ONE last month – the appointment of a new president — tended to overshadow the news from Pierce — the appointment of a new president. And the course each new president sets will significantly impact the fire apparatus manufacturing industry in the United States for many years to come.

Differences over direction between

E-ONE and its parent company, Federal Signal Corporation, led to the resignation of President Marc Gustafson three months short of his third anniversary there.

While E-ONE was seeking new direction, Pierce’s parent company, Oshkosh Truck Corp., was taking steps to ensure a smooth transition in leadership to a younger generation of managers.

Wilson Jones, who joined Oshkosh in 2005, was promoted to president of Pierce, and the man he’s worked under, Tom Fenner, was named president of the Oshkosh Fire and Emergency Group.

The Fire and Emergency Group, as a business unit, includes not only Pierce, but Jerr-Dan Corp., manufacturer of towing and recovery vehicles; Kewaunee Fabrications, builder of aerials for Pierce; the Oshkosh Airport and Municipal Products and Specialty Vehicles divisions; Medtec Ambulance; and BAI Brescia Antincendi International, the company’s European fire apparatus subsidiary based in Italy.

To oversee it all, the senior executive responsible for Pierce’s explosive growth over the last 10 years, John Randjelovic, has been promoted to chief executive officer of the Fire and Emergency Group. He also serves as executive vice president of Oshkosh Truck.

This orderly and impressive transition was organized and implemented by Oshkosh Chairman Robert G. Bohn, who runs the entire $3.6 billion company. And even higher revenues are expected this year, the result of recent acquisitions and Oshkosh’s position as a leading supplier of U.S. military vehicles.

Oshkosh is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol OSK. Federal Signal, which has been its closest rival in the fire industry, is also NYSE listed. Its symbol is FSS.

Federal Signal CEO Robert Welding has been busy making changes too. He appointed Peter Guile, 42, as president of E-ONE to replace Gustafson. Guile has been with Federal Signal for 11 years in its industrial systems division, but his background doesn’t involve truck manufacturing or truck sales.

Ironically, Wilson Jones, the new Pierce president, was a rising executive at E-ONE and Federal Signal until he left the company about four years ago. He will now be in head-to-head competition with his former company.

Gustafson, 55, joined Federal Signal’s Fire Rescue Group after more than two years as president of American LaFrance. Prior to that he was president of Volvo Trucks of North America. He had also served as executive vice president of sales and marketing for Mack trucks.

Guile will have some pretty big shoes to fill at E-ONE. Concurrent with Guile’s appointment, Welding announced that the Fire Rescue Group would split off its Bronto Skylift subsidiary in Finland into a separate company. Bronto Vice President and General Manager, Essa Peltola, has been named president and will report directly to Welding.

Guile, who is an engineer by education, came to Federal Signal from a British company that Federal Signal bought in 1995. His most recent assignment was smoothing the acquisition of Codespear, a software and communications company purchased in the last year. Federal Signal describes Codespear as “an interoperable communications platform for municipalities, counties, states and federal governments, and large industrial firms.”

Welding says that Guile will focus all his energy on E-ONE while Bronto, which has enjoyed record sales of its aerial device in Europe and Asia, will be free to concentrate on managing its own growth. E-ONE will remain the U.S. sales arm for Bronto.

In a telephone interview, both Welding and Guile emphasized the need to “rebuild the [E-ONE] dealership network” following loss of five dealers in the past two years or so, some switching to represent Rosenbauer.

Welding says he expects to sign a new dealer contract very soon in North Carolina, where C.W. Williams & Co. now handles Rosenbauer in North and South Carolina, Virginia and eastern Tennessee. When C.W. Williams was an E-ONE dealer, its sales volume was significant.

The Canadian E-ONE dealer in Red Deer, Alberta, which has not been replaced, ended up being Rosenbauer’s largest selling dealer last year. Meanwhile, the Ohio and West Virginia dealer, who had represented E-ONE for 15 years, switched to Rosenbauer last year.

The present E-ONE dealer in Texas is not renewing his franchise in August, but Welding gave assurances the state would be covered, saying, “Texas has been a very large market for us where we’ve had a significant share of the business.” He added that it is a “critically important area for us,” indicating that the new regional dealer would have to have a “very good service department.”

The press release announcing the E-ONE shake-up said Federal Signal was planning to increase “our investment in the dealer channel,” and later added, “We expect to invest about $20 million over the next 2 to 3 years to improve our operations at E-ONE.”

Welding explained some of that money would go toward helping dealers build or improve their service facilities, while much of it would be for what the news release called, “continuing to invest for new product support and improving our production assets.”

The mention of “production assets” raised the issue of Marc Gustafson having battled for nine months with local and state governments to get support for an all-new plant in Ocala, Fla. He secured some $26 million in local and state government assistance to fend off relocation proposals from other Southern states which solicited E-ONE on hearing the company was proposing a new plant.

The plant was to be the focal point for a new industrial complex being considered at Ocala International Airport. Two weeks after final governmental approvals in April, Welding pulled Federal Signal out of the deal, much to the surprise and consternation of everyone at E-ONE and most elected officials in Ocala and Marion County.

Before discussing that decision, Welding commended Gustafson for the four new apparatus designs that were unveiled in April, as well as his work on the E-ONE Configurator, a computerized software system that can figure out all the costs of a new apparatus and produce initial construction drawings in an hour or so, something that previously took a week or more.

E-ONE dealers nationwide now have the Configurator in operation. It gives them a significant edge over the competition when working with customers to see how various options or alternative designs affect the price of an apparatus.

“Marc did a very great job in developing new products and new tools such as the Configurator,” says Welding, but “we’re just getting into a different phase of the restoration of E-ONE.” He also says that right now “other things will be a higher priority” than a new plant, although “there will be a time in the near future that an investment in facilities will be appropriate.”

Welding says, “I vehemently disagree with those who’ve said Federal Signal is not committed to the [fire apparatus] business” and that now is the time “to burnish the brand and fill some of these dealer openings.” He is “very, very optimistic that by the end of 2008 we will demonstrate significant progress. There is nothing missing now from a product standpoint.”

The four all-new E-ONE models introduced at FDIC in April were well-received by the fire service (and by this magazine). The 100-foot aerial platform quint has a 15.5-foot jack spread utilizing E-ONE’s under-slung stabilizers, making it 2.5 feet shorter than others, and it carries 182 feet of ground ladders versus the 115-foot NFPA minimum offered by competitors.

The company’s all-new Quest model pumper has a vastly improved cab interior layout that is well-designed ergonomically and received positive comments from most at the FDIC trade show.

The Urban Pumper with its low hosebed for easy reloading and full-height, full-width compartment options along with various configurations for storing ground ladders looks like it will be a very popular fire truck for city and suburban departments. It has plenty of compartment space plus it can carry up to a 780-gallon booster tank.

Classic Fire LLC, a manufacturer formed about five years ago by ex-E-ONE executives and headed by Jim White, currently builds the wildland, initial attack apparatus, light rescues and commercial chassis pumper-tankers for E-ONE. Welding says that contract will be renewed so the main E-ONE production facilities now spread out over four buildings can concentrate on the company’s primary lines.

Welding is certainly right about one thing — E-ONE does have a full product line on which to build its future. It is now up to Peter Guile and the company’s dealership network to return the company to profitability.

June 2007 Column

Fire Industry Today

by C. Peter Jørgensen

Ann Stawsky, director of communications at Pierce Manufacturing for the last several years, has been named Vice President of Marketing Communications for Oshkosh Truck Corporation, parent company of Pierce. Oshkosh Truck (OSK-NYSE) is one of the country’s largest makers of military vehicles, with diversified subsidiaries worldwide.

Ann replaces Kirsten Skyba who has been appointed Vice President, Global Marketing, for JLG Industries, a materials handling vehicle manufacturer which Oshkosh acquired last year.

Kirsten and Ann are the only communications managers Pierce has had since its acquisition by Oshkosh more than 10 years ago. We will miss sparring with Kirsten, probably the toughest — and smartest — corporate communications director we’ve ever encountered.

Ann is from the same mold, as might be expected since Kirsten hired her. And she brings a wealth of experience and a keen insight to the fire industry in her new position.

She has extensive experience in public relations along with a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin. In addition to serving a stint at an ad agency, she handled public relations for the recreational products division of Bombardier, best known for its Ski-doo line of snow machines, and Evinrude and Johnson outboard motors.

As Marketing Communications vice president for Oshkosh Corp., Ann will still oversee press relations at Pierce, located about 20 miles up the Interstate in Appleton, Wis. Her successor hasn’t been named yet, but Oshkosh Chairman Bob Bohn has made an excellent choice for Kirsten’s replacement.

Kirsten…tough, but we really will miss her. Ann is all business when it comes to representing her company. We’re confident she will be as accessible as Kirsten who was always just a phone call or email away, nights, weekends or whenever something concerning Pierce was brewing.

****

This month American LaFrance will start moving operations into the largest all-new manufacturing plant built specifically to build fire apparatus.

The past 12 years for ALF have been a huge roller coaster ride, but the company has come through a tunnel of darkness to break out into the bright sunshine of June 2007.

It was 1995 when Jim Hebe, then president of Freightliner trucks, a subsidiary of Daimler-Benz of Germany, bought the hollow shell of what had been America’s premier apparatus builder for more than 100 years.

Hebe, and Daimler-Benz, got a warehouse of parts for generations of ALF apparatus and a collection of antique pumpers and ladder trucks. Figgie International, a conglomerate that owned ALF, had taken this old apparatus on tour around the United States for public relations purposes, visiting county fairs and local celebrations.

But Figgie had run into more trouble than having an excess of parts — it had an excess of companies and most of them seemed to be crashing down around the corporation at the same time.

For Figgie it was time to sell off whatever it could, so Hebe, while en route to Wisconsin in the Daimler-Benz-Freightliner corporate jet, decided to stop in Ohio to see if anything might be done about salvaging some part of ALF. (The apparatus maker was where he had taken his first job straight out of college.)

After three hours of negotiations, Hebe scribbled out an offer on a yellow pad, signed it, shook hands with the Figgie people and left as the new owner of American LaFrance. The price: $2.6 million.

The next week the Wall Street Journal ran a story headlined, “Freightliner Buys American Icon.” Telling the story to an invited crowd of dignitaries at the recent dedication of a new museum housing the ALF antique apparatus collection, Hebe was more than candid. He gave those present an inside look at how a worldwide business sometimes functions when millions are mere pocket change.

Soon after the June 12, 1995, Journal story, Hebe got a call from the Daimler-Benz president in Germany, “Vhatt‘iss dis “Icon” u bot, James.” Ahhhhh, a minor detail — Hebe had forgotten to inform Germany of the deal. Hey, $2.6 million is lunch money for the people who make the Mercedes SL600 two door convertible sports car priced at $154,700 (without a GPS).

Not to worry. The next call came from an international auction house (with offices in New York and London) offering Hebe more for the antique apparatus than he paid for the whole company. He didn’t sell.

However, the real work had just begun. Within a year Hebe had launched the completely new American LaFrance Eagle cab and chassis. The basic design lines of that 1996 Eagle are still apparent in the latest 2007 versions.

Hebe and Daimler-Benz went on a buying spree shortly after, acquiring two aerial manufacturers and four pumper makers along with two ambulance companies. In a few short years they changed the face of the American fire apparatus industry.

The antique apparatus is in a new 10,000 sq. ft. museum opened by ALF in April in North Charleston, S. C.

In the 10-plus years of owning the revived American LaFrance, Daimler-Benz never showed a profit from its apparatus manufacturing business. In late 2005 it sold the company to Patriarch Partners, LLC, a New York and Charlotte, N.C., investment company with assets exceeding $5 billon.

Lynn Tilton, CEO and controlling partner in Patriarch, was in her office at 40 Wall Street on September 11, 2001. She saw mass destruction close-up and also watched the heroic efforts of the FDNY for days. The chance to own America’s oldest fire apparatus company was too challenging to pass up.

Tilton, a 40-something dynamic woman with vision and chutzpah, has taken her 25-years’ experience with some of America’s largest investment banking companies and focused Patriarch on turning around companies with past problems. She now owns or controls some 60 entities and has expressed a particular dedication to restoring American LaFrance to top-ranked status among fire apparatus makers.

“No worthwhile journey is short or absent its obstacles…,” she was recently quoted as saying and she is well-aware that competing against Pierce and E-ONE with their corporate backing of Oshkosh Corp. and Federal Signal Corp., respectively, will be no walk in Central Park. But she’s already demonstrated she isn’t easily vanquished by even the largest competitors.

In her first year at the helm of the helicopter company founded by Howard Hughes decades ago, she made sweeping changes resulting in delivery of more helicopters in 2006 than in the two previous years combined. And she’s projecting to more than triple sales in 2007. That company, MDHI of Mesa, Ariz., also added 250 new jobs last year.

Under her leadership, ALF’s new facility — more than 10 acres under one roof — is first class. More importantly, it is designed to build truck chassis with fire apparatus coming off one assembly line while municipal-vocational trucks — the cab over engine Condor series — come off the other line.

Both start out in front of a small port in the factory’s wall where steel for chassis rails comes through and goes directly to the production line.

The plant was designed under supervision of ALF president John Stevenson who has a strong background in truck manufacturing. He formerly was manager of the Freightliner chassis plant in Cleveland, N.C.

The entire production flow plan has been worked out on computer simulation in conjunction with the engineering school at Clemson University.

All steel going down the chassis assembly line is pre-treated and primed for paint. Each stage of production will be displayed on 42-inch video monitors so workers and visitors can see a 3D modeling of what’s taking place and how things fit together along each part of the line.

The Condor commercial chassis is a sleeper in the whole picture and could be the key to long-term success. High volume sales to companies building bodies for municipal and trade uses, such as refuse, utility and cement trucks and short haulers, mean steady income from a quickly built product.

The Condor chassis is now being offered in a four-door version for an economy fire apparatus model as well. It will be competing for sales with the Freightliner M2, Sterling, International and Kenworth commercial chassis often used by both American LaFrance and a myriad of other apparatus manufacturers.

In a 57,000-square-foot separate building adjacent to the new plant ALF is constructing a two-story Customer Center with four delivery bays, eight conference rooms, a training and seminar center and a showroom.

The whole area is being designed in a 1920s motif with the flavor of an old-fashioned firehouse and even includes a hose tower. Wide oak plank flooring, a 1917 fire pole from a Chicago firehouse, period wall murals and a rotating display of antique apparatus from the company’s museum collection will enhance the theme.

ALF President Stevenson points out that more than 10,000 square feet is being devoted to the Customer Center while the rest of the building houses engineering and research facilities, corporate offices, sales and administration.

Both new buildings show a handsome red brick façade and overlook Interstate 26 in Summerville, S.C., a suburb of Charleston. The entire site will be finished with a campus-type layout taking advantage of natural water flows to create a pond, stream and a large landscaped area setting ALF off from the nearby industrial park.

Taken together, the new plant, new owner and new atmosphere say that American LaFrance, celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, is positioned to quickly increase its market share in a short time. ALF is definitely on a fast track for the first time since the mid-1990s.

Grand opening of the new facilities is set for August, just before the International Association of Fire Chiefs annual convention in Atlanta, Ga.

Copyright © 2007 Fire Apparatus Magazine, All Rights Reserved.