Baton Rouge, LA, Taps Ferrara Fire for 11 Rigs
Ferrara Fire Apparatus, which is a subsidiary of REV Group, will supply the Baton Rouge Fire Department with five custom pumpers, three 107-foot rear-mount ladder trucks, two heavy rescues and one 100-foot mid-mount platform. Funding for the apparatus was made possible through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The five custom pumpers and the two heavy rescues will be built on a Cinder XMFD chassis. The three ladder trucks will be built on an Igniter XMFD chassis. The mid-mount platform will be built on an Inferno MFD chassis.
The department’s apparatus committee, which was made up of firefighters who will be operate the equipment on an everyday basis, met with engineers from Ferrara to design apparatus that would meet their needs when responding to emergencies.
For more information, go to ferrarafire.com.
9-1-1 Advances
NextNav, which develops 3D geolocation and GPS backup technology, partnered with Convey911. The latter allows emergency personnel to connect with emergency callers via text and multimedia messaging. The partnership means that Convey911 now is capable of providing first responders with an emergency caller’s precise location data, including that individual’s elevation level. The two companies say that practical applications range from identifying rescues from a specific floor of a skyscraper to helping find lost hikers.
NextNav also partnered with virtual private network (VPN) provider RadioIP. The two companies say that bringing NextNav’s vertical positioning capabilities to RadioIP’s platform allows a secure channel of encrypted communication for first responders that must identify the vertical location of personnel or callers without exposing that information.
NextNav executives tout the two new partnerships as major steps forward for 9-1-1 emergency service.
Fire-Dex and Fire Dept. Coffee Partnership
Fire-Dex now is the exclusive gear partner (including helmets, gloves, jackets, pants and hoods) for Fire Dept. Coffee. The latter is run by active and retired firefighters who give back to first responders who became sick or were injured while on the job or who face other serious health challenges. Fire-Dex is donating multiple sets of turnout gear to Fire Dept. Coffee and FDC Media, its social media content arm. Fire-Dex also is donating dual-certified tech rescue and wildland gear, extrication gloves, and structural gloves, helmets and hoods to Fire Dept. Coffee. The two companies hope to increase awareness for solutions that save lives.
For more information, go to firedex.com.
CPSE Launches PIO Credential
Following eight months of development and beta testing, the Center for Public Safety Excellence’s (CPSE) Commission on Professional Credentialing (CPC) began to offer the Public Information Officer (PIO) credential in November 2022. The credential is available to individuals who are employed as PIOs for governmental or quasi-governmental entities or are volunteers for a federal, state, local or tribal government agency.
“The public information officer plays a vital role in the world today and is at the forefront of all major incidents,” Toni Washington, who is CPC Chair and fire chief of the City of Decatur, GA, Fire Rescue, said. “The PIO designation gives visibility to a profession that is well deserving of a professional credential.”
A cross-functional team worked to bring the new credential to fruition. Members of the team included CPSE staff, CPC commissioners, new and existing volunteers that served as peer reviewers and a 13-member technical working group. The latter consisted of public information experts and fire service professionals from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
This Month in Fire History
Dec. 1, 1958, Chicago—Our Lady of the Angels School fire kills 95
Dec. 2, 1913, Boston—Arcadia Hotel fire kills 28
Dec. 2, 2016, Oakland, CA—Ghost Ship fire kills 36
Dec. 3, 1999, Worcester, MA—Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire kills six firefighters
Dec. 5, 1876, Brooklyn, NY—Brooklyn Theater fire kills 295
Dec. 7, 1946, Atlanta—Winecoff Hotel fire kills 119
Dec. 16, 1835, New York—Great New York fire destroys New York Stock Exchange
Dec. 21, 1910, Philadelphia—Friedlander Leather Remnants Factory fire kills 13 firefighters
Dec. 21, 1991, Brackenridge, PA—Building floor collapse kills four firefighters
Dec. 22, 1910, Chicago—Stockyard cold storage fire kills 21 firefighters
Dec. 30, 1903, Chicago—Iroquois Theater fire kills 602
Dec. 30, 2004, Buenos Aires, Argentina—República Cromañón nightclub fire kills 194
Courtesy: NFPA
