APPARATUS SETUP CONT.
IT’S A
SETUP
COUNTY FIRE’S METICULOUS
METHOD OF DESIGNING, BUILDING
AND OUTFITTING OUR FLEET By Ryan Beckers
IF
you’ve been around San Bernardino County
Fire for a while, or even if you’ve simply
heard tales of rigs from days past, you’ve
seen an evolution in the level of standardization
of our fire engines—everything from apparatus
manufacturer and model to compartment design to
complement and placement of tools.
It’s gotten to the point where, for the most part, the system now
works to make each generation of rig better and more suitable to
our environment, yet recognizable as a “County Fire” vehicle. Each
rig is a statement of who we are as an agency, as represented by the
choice and placement of our essential gear as well as decisions on
technology and design.
Along the way, building a rig requires the input and expertise of a
number of people and groups; from County Fire’s Operations/Leadership
Apparatus Committee for spec and design to County Purchasing for
releasing the funds; to the manufacturer for construction; to County
Fire Service Center for purchase of equipment; to the fire mechanics
at the shop who fabricate the “setup” (the term which refers to
arranging all the equipment and technology on the rig); to other
committees such as EMS Equipment; and back to the apparatus folks
for final review.
Essentially, our apparatus builds reflect the
wishes of the end user—those of us on the floor
responding in them daily. And most of these ideas
are funneled through and brought to fruition by
the apparatus committee. However, according
to committee co-chair Mike McClintock (Division
Chief Dave Corbin is the other), this wasn’t always
the case. “There was a time when we had things
MIKE
MCCLINTOCK
ordered which were not completely driven by
folks on the floor,” McClintock says. “But we’ve
gotten to the point where our management says, ‘hey, we trust you,
you’re the experts.’ This has been a process over many years, and it
highlights the nature of or labor and management relationship. I think
there’s trust both ways.”
One committee member instrumental in bringing our system up to its
current level is Engineer Brian Wells, who has ended up logging tens
of thousands of miles canvassing the country to review apparatus
in various stages of conception or construction, not to mention the
hours creating and reviewing specification documents. He takes us
through the steps involved.
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“The first thing a rig starts with is the vision of the setup,” says Wells,
who states this can even be on pen and paper and drawn freehand.
“How is it going to look, where are things going to go? And at the very
end, you end up coming back to that vision and going through things
again to ensure it is the vehicle that was planned.”
Wells indicates that a County Fire rig must
meet four criteria to be a successful build for
our agency: Does it look professional and is
it something we can be proud of? Is it within
our budget? Is it functional? Does it meet the
mission? current pricing based on the equipment’s current market value.
Our internal fiscal department will then perform all fund transfers
associated with the transaction.”
To ensure these items are met, an apparatus BRIAN WELLS
specification booklet—these can be dozens of
pages if not over one hundred or so—is written. And, while by now
most of our rigs have a basic template in place, each generation sees
many edits. “Thirty to 40 changes with every batch,” according to
McClintock, meaning this book is painstaking to construct. With cost overruns a concern, many parts not already in stock or
part of an existing contract need to go through the bidding process,
so fire equipment technicians at the warehouse spend a great deal
of time making these negotiations and then finding the tools that
meet the mission. “We ensure that all equipment being purchased
meets the department’s written specs,” says Dorado.
“We start building the spec once we get an idea of the mission,” Wells
says. From there, every aspect of the rig, from the chassis on up, gets
spelled out in a spec booklet. The spec then goes to a request for
proposal (RFP), perhaps out to five vendors, if a contract isn’t already
in place. From here, according to Wells, with the vehicle taking shape and
the equipment beginning to be delivered to the shop floor for
placement, a punch list is reviewed line-by-line for discrepancies
versus the build order.
Once that is determined, the contract is awarded and the funding is
handled by County Purchasing. What starts then is the pre-construction
phase, or “precon,” where the spec document is reviewed line by line
in a meeting with the manufacturer. “This is where the specifics are
ironed out,” Wells says.
An apparatus specifications document
Engineer and committee member
Brian Wells shows diagrams for
a tillered aerial apparatus.
Hand-drawn sketches are often where it starts.
“Any time there is even the smallest line-item error that doesn’t
get seen right away on the spec, that means somebody will have to
pay to have it fixed,” Wells says. If we miss it, it’s on us. If we catch
it, the manufacturer is essentially on the hook to make things right.
These costs can add up.”
Once the precon is done, a precondition change order is submitted,
and each of these changes are then reviewed. Once those changes
are finalized, the release to production document is produced for the
manufacturer. This is the final say so on what the rig will be.
From this point a number of wheels start turning, with other aspects
of our agency involved—meaning coordination and timing are critical—
because now is when the tools and equipment
are ordered from the County Fire Service Center,
or warehouse, which is where Service Center
Supervisor Corbin Dorado comes in.
CORBIN DORADO
“We fill the order based on the operations
directive written by the apparatus committee,”
Dorado says. “And we update the line item with
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