Focusing on the fire station: E-One responds to changes in fire & rescue equipment design; rethinking the fire truck - Specialty Vehicles - Interview

Diesel Progress North American Edition, Oct, 2002 by Brent Haight

Emergency One (E-One) has made a name for itself by targeting the vehicle needs of the fire rescue industry. Though that might sound like a niche market with limited capacity; B-One noted that there are approximately 30,000 fire departments in North America alone. While the average fire department does not require a new vehicle each year, thanks to shifting demographics and geographic expansion, new vehicle sales are stable. The fact is, the more a population grows, the more fire trucks it needs.

"In North America, on an annualized average basis, the new vehicle market is between 5000 and 5500 trucks of all shapes and sizes," said Jay Johnson, vice president of marketing at B-One. "These vehicles are purchased year in and year out. This is a relatively mature, business. As you can imagine, you just don't build cities overnight so our customer base is pretty stable."

To date, the Ocala, Fla.-based manufacturer has more than 23,000 vehicles in operation around the world. The fire rescue vehicle industry is as complex and multidimensional as any industrial vehicle group, and B-One is a global leader both in terms of product innovations and new technologies.

"Fire departments have diverse needs," said Johnson. "We pride ourselves in the fact that we have a vehicle solution for every need in the fire service. We offer a broad range of products, including pumpers, tankers, aerial ladders, aerial platforms and aircraft rescue fire- fighting vehicles."

All of those vehicle types are needed to serve the different segments of the markets, said Johnson, who identified four main areas. The municipal segment consists of cities, counties, and fire protection districts. "Wherever you live, there typically is a fire department," Johnson noted. Municipal covers a broad range of departments, serving everything from small rural communities under 2500 people, "which, by the way is the majority of fire service," Johnson said -- up to the large metropolitan areas such as New York City and Chicago.

"A second segment is industrial, which has entirely different needs, different hazards," according to Johnson. "Trying to protect a small town outside of a major metropolitan city is a lot different than trying to protect a large petrochemical plant."

Third is the airport market, which typically is equipped with ARFF (aircraft rescue firefighting) vehicles. "Depending on the size of the airport and the air traffic the department accommodates, there might be many more vehicles in the fire protection fleet," Johnson said. "For example, major airports may have some additional units -- more of what you'd see in a municipal fire department because they have hotels and parking garages to protect. They are not going to take an ARFF vehicle to put out a small fire in a parking garage."

The fourth significant area is wild-land or forestry. "Brush fires are in abundance this year," Johnson said.

Each segment of the industry is experiencing trends that are causing E-One to rethink the way it designs its vehicles, according to Johnson. In the municipal, E-One's core business, more and more vehicles are being called to emergencies that don't involve a fire. "A fire station provides protection for a given geographic area," said Johnson. "A fire station will respond to an auto accident on the expressway for example, if it is within its zone of protection. They might have an industrial site within their zone as well as residential areas. When 911 is called, a fire truck gets sent. A lot of times it's to handle a rescue or emergency medial situation and not a fire.

"Departments are getting more calls and are using the trucks differently, especially in the municipal segment," Johnson added. "Vehicles are carrying more rescue equipment, not just what they need to put a fire out, but all the tools and equipment to deal with a large variety of rescue scenarios. Because of this, the trucks are being configured differently We've had to change the body and cab layout to accommodate the kinds of equipment these departments now need to carry.

"The criteria used to be primarily water and pump capacity. Now, departments want specialized compartments for EMS and rescue needs."

In the industrial segment, the trend is toward higher performance." When there is big plant and a huge potential hazard to deal with, they want to be able to put as much on a fire, typically foam, to extinguish it as quickly as possible," Johnson said. "Those trucks are typically required to pump 3000 gpm. Our large pumper trucks are available with up to a 500 lip engine that has the capability to self sufficiently pump 3000 gpm."

Similarly, Johnson said, airports are also looking for more power and performance. "High performance is the key," he said. "We are currently working on a vehicle for the airport segment that will carry 3000 gal. of water, 400 gal. of foam, 500 lb. of dry powder, plus the cab and body These vehicles are weighing in at about 75,000 lb. and they have to be able to accelerate from zero to 50 mph in 25 seconds.