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Sutphen Delivers Aerial Ladder Quint, Custom Pumper to Eden (NC) Fire Department

Sutphen Delivers Aerial Ladder Quint, Custom Pumper to Eden (NC) Fire Department

“We went to our dealer, Robert Stanley at Stevens Fire Equipment, and he had a 70-foot aerial platform quint demo that he brought over for us to examine,” says Todd Harden, Eden’s chief. “We were very pleased with the performance of the 75-foot aerial ladder quint we bought from Sutphen a few years ago, and decided to replace our 1991 Grumman Firecat 102-foot aerial platform with the Sutphen 70-foot platform.”

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FDIC International 2021: Access Steps and Handrails

FDIC International 2021: Access Steps and Handrails

By Bill Adams After a year’s hiatus, the Fire Department Instructor’s Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis, IN, had numerous apparatus on display from multiple vendors. In addition to unveiling new products and apparatus designs, most rigs were equipped with traditional...

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NFPA-Mandated Flash Rates: Fast, Slow, or Not at All?

NFPA-Mandated Flash Rates: Fast, Slow, or Not at All?

By Bill Adams This article is not an accusation that the writers of the National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 1901 Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus purposely promulgate requirements that are conflicting, divergent, or confusing. They just appear to be....

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NFPA-Mandated LED Lightbars: Fact or Fallacy?

NFPA-Mandated LED Lightbars: Fact or Fallacy?

By Bill Adams A fact is a verifiable truth; fiction is not. A politically correct way of dodging the truth is to call a statement a fallacy. A fallacy can be defined as a misconception, a myth, sometimes a mistake, even a fairytale and “perhaps it’s something you...

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Grab Handle Negligence?

Grab Handle Negligence?

By Bill Adams In the early 1980s, a New England firefighter fell off a rig and eventually died from his injuries. His family successfully sued the fire apparatus manufacturer that built the apparatus. It was a custom pumper with an open canopy cab that featured a...

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Transverse Hose Storage

Transverse Hose Storage

Transverse hose storage for handlines has been around since the late 1940s. Commonly called crosslays and mattydales, they’re usually located immediately above or recessed into the top of a midship-mounted pump enclosure. Some are found on front bumper extensions and on the rear step–also known as the tailboard or more politically correct as the rear work platform. They all feature the principle of deploying the hose from either side of the rig. All are loaded from the top. It is irrelevant if the hose is preconnected. What is important is ensuring the intended hose fits, it is stored at a workable height, and can be deployed as intended. Adequate purchasing specifications will ensure so.

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