Fire Chief

Just over 20 years ago, fire apparatus mechanics faced three major issues: lack of training, new technology and liability concerns.

While some areas of the country had mechanics associations, for example the New England Fire Apparatus Mechanics Association that formed in 1956 and the California Fire Mechanics Academy that formed in 1970, many states did not. Today, at least 16 states have state mechanics or emergency vehicle technician associations.

The Apparatus Maintenance Section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs formed 20 years ago to serve as a resource for training supervisors, technicians and officers involved with apparatus. The section was a result of meetings between several manufacturers, fire department mechanics and assorted other interested individuals.

One long-time proponent of mechanic/EVT training is Bill Foster, vice president of Spartan Chassis. Recently, the Texas Association of EVTs and the Oklahoma Association of EVTs joined to present Foster the Jim Bland Memorial Award, given to an individual who has devoted his or her time and efforts to further the EVT profession.

Foster is an incredible source of knowledge about apparatus. He can be found at most trade shows, sitting on the bumper of a Spartan chassis, holding court for a steady line of fire department technicians and other manufacturers looking for answers or insights on fire trucks.

Spartan launched a hands-on training program for mechanics 14 years ago. I attended one of the first programs and was impressed with the no-nonsense, minimal-cost approach. Spartan even worked out to use a nearby university campus in the summer to house and feed the attendees.

“We have been involved in support emergency vehicle technicians for 14 years and even before that we were trying to train as mechanics as much as we could,” said Foster.

Foster said that without the support of the manufacturers, technicians wouldn’t have the information needed to understand fire vehicles and maintain them properly, therefore equipment would not perform to its ultimate capacity.

“We have taken the opportunity to offer classes annually and on a quarterly basis,” Foster said. “These classes are to understand their truck; break-it, fix-it and cover the maintenance things that are important. Once people understood how a fire truck functions, they can learn how to fix them. How pressure governors should work and how interlocks work and how to check if it isn‘t functioning correctly.”

This year, the Spartan Expo and Conference will be held in Lansing, Mich., August 3–7.

“We try to stay away from anything sales oriented and anything we present is as generic as possible. We only know our products in depth, but the particulars of our products is what all products do,” said Foster.

According to Foster, some of the new technology, if not understood and maintained, will result in serious problems for responding emergency vehicles.

“We‘ve got diesel particulate filters and the re-generating processes must occur; the re-gen factor is critical,” he said. “EVTs have got to understand what those engines are doing and how they collect the soot on diesel particulate filters and how it burns off in regeneration.”

Foster also cautioned, “Some people don‘t pay attention to it and are using old fuels. Buying fuel only every two years, they still haven‘t got into ultra-low sulphur. They haven‘t changed their oils to be low-ash, which is a requirement and will contribute to failures down the road.”

An award-winner himself, Foster and Spartan are looking to spread the recognition. Spartan is the sponsor of FIRE CHIEF’s In Service 2008 EVT of the Year Award, along with Allison Transmission. The award will be presented at the IAFC‘s Apparatus Maintenance Workshop, Aug. 13–14 in Denver.

“The award recognizes their work and gives the mechanics a pride in what they are doing,” Foster said.

Whether you still call them mechanics, EVTs or some other name, I call them the unsung heroes because “nothing happens if the rigs don‘t run.”