Latest Recalls

This first one is for you folks who pull utility trailers.

Carlisle Brake and Friction Co. is recalling (NHTSA recall #12E-003) certain Hydrastar and Hydrastar XL trailer brake actuators produced from Oct. 5 thru Dec. 9, 2011.

One of the rotating components in the hydraulic pump missed a heat treat operation causing the actuator to wear at a higher than normal rate. As a result, the hydraulic pump could fail and result in a loss of braking ability.

Carlisle Brake and Friction Company will notify owners, and dealers will replace the hydraulic pumps free of charge. The recall is expected to begin during 2012. Owners may contact Carlisle at 800 542 0972.

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Daimler Trucks North America is recalling (12E-009) certain Detroit Diesel EPA07 and EPA10 engines. These engines were installed as original equipment on various heavy duty trucks and emergency vehicles. The pump to rail high pressure fuel line used on these engines is sensitive to assembly torque and may be damaged during service work. As a result of other repairs, the line supports may loosen, potentially leading to fuel line cracking and a fuel leak.

DTNA will notify owners, and the high pressure fuel line support will be replaced by DTNA authorized service facilities, free of charge. The safety recall is expected to begin during March, 2012. Owners may contact DTNA at 800 547 0212. DTNA’s recall campaign number is FL-622. Detrot Diesel’s campaign number is 12C-2

DTNA has the same recall out via Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star. It would not surprise me to see Pierce join in at some point, since they use some of the same engines.

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Pierce has joined (12V-080) the recall for engine shutdown software that was reported in January. Pierce will notify owners and DD dealers will make corrections free of charge. Pierce has not provided a notifications schedule. They may be contacted at 888 974 3723.

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Mack and Navistar have joined the Bendix ATR-6 traction relay valve recall.

Navistar is recalling (12V-196) certain 2010 through 2013 Paystar, Workstar, Transtar and Prostar, and 2012 through 2013 Lonestar trucks, equipped with a Maxxforce 11 or 13 engine (Feature Code 12UXJ or 12UXH) and with Bosch alternator Feature Codes 08GGN, 08GGR, 08GHG or 08GHH.

The alternator cable may rub on the high pressure power steering hose, possibly chafing its insulation and causing an electrical short.

Navistar will install a standoff bracket and improve harness routing to better route the alternator wires away from the power steering hose. Navistar did not provide an expected start date for the recall, but an interim notice will be mailed to owners if parts are not available before June 30, 2012. Owners may contact Navistar at 800 448 7825. Navistar’s campaign number is 12515. This recall supersedes safety recall 11V-426, Navistar #11516. All owners that had their vehicles repaired under the earlier recall campaign will need to have their vehicle remedied under this one.

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Goodyear is recalling (12T-003 certain Wrangler Silent Armor tires, sizes LT235/80R17 LRE, LT325/60R18 LRE, LT275/70R18 LRE, LT265/70R17 LRE, LT245/75R17 LRE and LT285/70R17 LRD produced from March 31 thru May 31, 2009.

These tires may experience a partial tread area separation under certain severe usage conditions. Goodyear will notify owners and replace the tires free of charge. The safety recall is expected to begin on or before March 22, 2012. Owners may contact Goodyear at 800 592 3267.

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Ford is recalling (12V-035) certain 2011 and 2012 F53 and F59 stripped chassis vehicles. The "PRNDL" cable may break at the attachment to the transmission control selector arm assembly mounted on the steering column. If the cable breaks, the transmission gear indicator will remain in the first gear position regardless of the gear selected.

Ford will notify owners and dealers will replace the transmission selector arm and the cable, free of charge. This recall campaign began on March 1, 2012. Owners may contact Ford Motor Co. Customer Relationship Center at 866 436 7332. Ford’s recall campaign number is 12S27.

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Mitsubishi Fuso is recalling (12V-058) certain 2012 FEC52, FEC72 and FEC92 trucks for failing to comply with the requirements of FMVSS 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."

During assembly, incorrect passenger’s side seat belt buckles were installed. The passenger’s side seat belt tongue will not engage correctly.

Mitsubishi Fuso will notify owners and dealers will replace the buckle free of charge. The safety recall is expected to begin during March, 2012. Owners may contact MFTA at 866 467 4500. The recall campaign number is C10051100.

…..That's it for this month.  Enjoy the Spring weather…..Sam.

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Driver-Only Responding

THE DRIVER OF A CHARLES CITY COUNTY fire department tanker is hospitalized in serious condition following a single-vehicle accident Sunday morning.

photo by James Bates

According to Virginia State Police, Michael Buchanan, 51, of Quinton was responding with the 3,000-gal. tanker around 5 am Sunday morning when he drifted to the right drainage ditch, then crossed over the narrow 2-lane road to the left side where he rolled over and struck a tree.

WRIC-TV

The crash destroyed the truck, breaking it into several pieces.  Buchanan was trapped inside the cab and had to be extricated.  He apparently has some serious damage to his legs and was airlifted to Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Hospital in Richmond.

WTVR-TV Ch. 6 has the STORY.

WWBT-TV

Firegeezer will attempt to get more information for an update today.

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Wilmington Rolls Out the Trailer Squad

WHEN THE PENCIL-PUSHERS IN THE WILMINGTON, Delaware, Fire Department decided to lay off 17 firefighters, they worked out a plan that looked oh, so good on paper.  They will just park the two, now-unmanned rescue squad trucks behind two of their front-line engines.  And then when an alarm comes in that calls for a squad in the box, the two firefighters will drop back and bring the squad.

Not so fast, says the union Local.  Their contract plainly states that there will be a minimum of four firefighters on each piece of apparatus.  An arbitrator agreed with the Local and it was back to square #1 for the pencil-pushers.

Lou Angeli, publisher of the commentary blog Fire-Rescue-EMS Around the World tells us what happened next:

In a somewhat bizarre effort to meet the arbitrator’s demand, the Fire Administration has proposed purchasing three (3) 18-foot trailers, which would carry rescue and haz-mat equipment to incident scenes by towing them behind the existing Squad Pumpers (Squads 1 and 3) and the Haz-Mat pumper (Engine 6). The city says that such a change would allow the 4-person crew to remain together on a common apparatus, while at the same time carrying the tools needed for technical rescue.

This is a Rescue Squad  (Lou Angeli)

Fire administration supports their decision saying that the use of pumper-trailers by fire suppression units is "a popular trend" among the nation’s departments. It is true that the concept of using trailers to haul specialty equipment has been around for several years now, however the towing vehicle is never a pumper with a ball hitch, but rather a dedicated vehicle like a Ford F-550 or even a small 5th wheel tractor.

This is Not a Rescue Squad  (Lou Angeli)

Lou goes on to point out the folly of trying to convert a pumper into a tow vehicle, including some things the pencil-pushers never thought of, such as installing the auxilliary trailer air brakes in the fire engine, for example.

Read the entire story in his fire BLOG HERE.

At least one of the City Councilmen isn't impressed.  The Wilmington News Journal quotes him:  Councilman Stephen L. Martelli said the idea of large vehicles towing trailers "seems to be a bit problematic off the jump,"  That same article quotes the Local president as saying that pulling an 18-ft. trailer would be a navigational nightmare.  (not to mention prohibiting the pumper from laying a supply line.)

Read the News Journal's story HERE.

Firegeezer is not familiar with this "popular trend," as the pencil-pusher calls it, of pumper-trailer combo's springing up across the USA.  Can anybody help me out here?

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Inexplicable Actions Have Many Wondering

FOLLOWING THE FIREGEEZER REPORT on Sunday about the loose cannon Trustee of St. Joseph Township in Indiana, we all were wondering how this man was legally able to do the things he did.  (See the Firegeezer REPORT HERE.)  Robert Uhrick has arbitrarily disbanded the EMS activities and sold off the two ambulances at a fraction of their value.  Then last week he sold the boat, motor and trailer without telling anybody until it was done and delivered.  Nobody in the fire department was aware that the boat had been taken from its storage shed until the next day.

Trustee Uhrick  (WANE-TV)

Now the Trustee has told the fire chief that his next move is to sell the fire engine and other equipment, then ask for bids from neighboring departments to provide coverage to their area.  In effect, he wants to shut down the fire department entirely.  It is staffed by three paid volunteer chief officers and the rest of the members are all volunteers as well.

Firegeezer recently had a telephone interview with Fire Chief Jerry Lencke who gladly answered my questions about these topics and filled me in on some of Uhrick's recent actions and the problems they have caused.  Chief Lencke tells us that St. Joseph is one of the most prosperous townships in the state and they do not have any sort of a budgetary problem.  In fact, the twp. has not had to take out a loan for anything in the past 20 years.

The township which is located in Allen County, is overseen by one Trustee who is elected by the citizens.  That is the aforementioned Robert Uhrick.  He has held that position for many years and is usually uncontested at election time.  The Trustee is guided by a committee of three "advisors" who do not have any direct authority over him.  Uhrick's daughter is one of the advisors and his wife is the Township Clerk.  (Nepotism, anybody?)

St. Joseph Twp. Fire Station  (Fire Dept. photo)

The Township owns the fire station and all of the equipment in it.  The VFD is a chartered corporation/fire department, but it does not own any of the equipment.  Trustee Uhrick is solely responsible for the budget and he creates it.  Chief Lencke tells me that they do not have any problem staying within the budgetary limits and this current fiscal year he is under-budget.  There is no monetary problem with the fire department.

The boat that was recently sold sub rosa was worth approx. $8,000 and was fully paid for.  Uhrick offered it to a fire department in another county for half-price, $4,000, and they accepted the offer.  After the boat and trailer were picked up, Uhrick had his wife send an email to Chief Lencke at 9 pm that said, in its entirety:

We have received an offer for purchase and have sold the boat, motor and trailer.  It was picked up this evening……Trustee Uhrick.

That was the first anybody had learned that this was even being considered.  Just as surprised was the Allen County Dispatch Center who still had the emergency unit marked in service.  They next had to go through the labor of revising all of their run cards for the water rescue running orders.  Also, the clueless trustee let the purchaser go off with the equipment that was in the boat (safety vests, throw bags, strobe light, etc.) forcing the township to purchase replacements to be placed on their squad truck.

Chief Lencke  (WANE-TV)

Up until four months ago the dept. had four full-time firefighters to provide constant coverage, but they were laid off.  Then Uhrick had a locksmith come in and padlock the locker room and bunk room.  The department had four live-in volunteers who provided full coverage at nights, but now they are unable to stay there because of this psychotic behavior.  Now when there is a night fire, there is a several-minutes delay in response because everybody is coming from home.

Eighteen months ago, the township purchased $500,000 in vehicles including a pumper, two utility vehicles and a new ambulance.  Like the boat, the ambulance was sold off at a fraction of its value when Uhrick disbanded the EMS coverage and turned it over to a private ambulance firm.  Now he says that he will do the same thing with the fire engine.  As township trustee, he has the legal authority to do these things, even destructive actions such as we have pointed out.

Nobody knows why Uhrick is doing these things.  He has been ducking any questions and has refused for several weeks to have any face-to-face meetings with the fire chief.  Attempts to call him are screened by his wife and she refuses to connect the calls.

Firegeezer will be staying with this situation and will keep you informed of whatever transpires in this Bizzaro world that Uhrick has set up.

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Wants to Sell the Fire Engine Next

THE ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP, INDIANA, VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT is being "sabotaged" by its Trustee Robert Uhrick.  The coot has decided that it costs too much to run a fire department and wants to force its closure so that the Township will contract with a neighboring  FD to cover their area, a suburb of Fort Wayne.

Chief Jerry Lencke  (WANE-TV)

Earlier this year Uhrick arbitrarily laid off the four full-time paid firefighters and then padlocked the bunkroom prohibiting the volunteer live-ins from staying there.  Yesterday (Saturday) Fire Chief  Jerry Lencke called a press conference to announce that on Thursday he received an email from Uhrick's wife that the department's boat, motor, and trailer had been sold and were taken from the storage bay where it had been kept.  Adding to the mess, Uhrick never notified the Allen County Dispatch Center that the boat had been removed from service.

Uhrick is claiming that the department is draining too much money from the township's budget, but Chief Lencke says that the budget has not only remained at the same level for the past three years, but they are under budget for the current fiscal year.

This video report from WANE-TV Ch. 15 goes farther into the story of what's going on:

Chief Lencke called the press conference in hopes that the citizens will become informed of what Uhrick is doing to their fire department.  Despite repeated requests by Lencke to have a meeting to discuss ideas for saving money, Uhrick constantly gives him the brush-off and refuses to talk with him.

Trustee Uhrick  (WANE-TV)

INC (Indiana News Center) is REPORTING that Uhrick admitted that he has put the fire engine and two other FD vehicles up for sale.  Read the INC story for more details on the looney trustee's thoughts and plans.

Update, May 11:
Firegeezer updated report with more information has been posted HERE.

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Steering Problem

A FIRE ENGINE FROM THE HILTER, GERMANY, Volunteer Fire Brigade lost its steering control Saturday morning and slammed into a wall of the Hilter town hall.

According to the police, the engine's driver lost control of the steering and the truck went directly across a traffic roundabout, then jumped the curb, went through a low stone wall and smashed into the building, luckily hitting it right in a former doorway.

All photos via Nord-West-Media

The crash was just 30 feet away from the police station that was occupied at the time.  There were no injuries, but the early damage estimates exceed 400,000 euros.  The firetruck has been written off as a total loss.  There will be a complete investigation into the cause of the accident.

Nord-West-Media TV has the story and an extensive photo gallery HERE.

Thanks to Christian Lewalter, Feuerwehr Blog.

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Friday – the 13th

If it seems like we just had a Friday the 13th, it's because we did … in January.  And we still have one more to go.  This is one of those scarce years where the 13th falls on a Friday three times and the third one comes along in July, not much farther away.  No ladder drills today.

There was a bit of bad luck recently for a firetruck salesman who is also a Commissioner with the Midway Fire District Fire Commission in Colonie, New York.  Phil D'Angelo is the commissioner whose regular job is selling Rosenbauer fire apparatus for the Garrison Fire dealership.  It seems that Phil got a little overzealous when he wrote up the specs. that were recently put out for bid on a new fire engine for the FD.  I think you know where we're going here.

Times Union photo

Lo and behold, Phil's bid was the only one that was submitted, save a bid from Crimson Fire Apparatus which was tossed out for being from an "unresponsible bidder."  The commission did receive some letters from other dealers, though.  Here are some samples as quoted by the Albany Times Union:

Wayne Tyler, owner of Tyler Fire Equipment (a Pierce dealer) of Elmira, wrote, "your specifications were written around another manufacturer's product. We feel your biased decision and specifications speaks volumes of your intent." Tyler added the fire commissioners refused to give the company, which has previously sold trucks to the department, a chance to discuss the issue at a meeting.

Jim Terry Jr., president of EEV Inc. of Newburgh, said he too felt frozen out of the contract. "When it's so specific, that it's got to be built that particular way, that leaves it so it's not open to everybody," he said. If the truck designs were more flexible, he said, "they probably would have received three or four other bids."

Mitch Willoughby, vice president of dealer sales for Ferra Fire Apparatus Inc., had similar objections. "We chose not to bid on your specification because it was a 100 percent proprietary General Body and a Spartan Chassis," he wrote in a letter to Commissioner Theresa Moran. "It appeared obvious to us your Truck Committee had elected to work with Rosenbauer on your purchase."

The FD's lawyer says that they were only trying to save some money, and anyhow it's not unusual for specs. to be written to benefit one company.  That's no doubt true, but it is not usually so blatant and restrctive.  Now that the bid has been brought to the public's attention, the commission voted last week to toss it out.  Now they are mulling over whether to write up a new bid invitation or not.  You can read the full story in the Times Union HERE.

This isn't the first time that the Times Union has lifted some rocks in Colonie, a suburb of Albany that is home to about 82,000 people.  The city is protected by no less than 12 individual and independent volunteer fire departments.  A recent investiation by the newspaper brought out that the departments combined have more fire vehicles than many much larger cities in New York.  A sampling from their report:

Colonie spends $8.8 million, more than the city of Schenectady's full-time paid force of firefighters. And the Capital Region suburb has more fire vehicles than the cities of Albany, Schenectady and Troy combined, a Times Union investigation has found.

And while the three cities have 13 chiefs who can take their SUVs home, Colonie has 35. There are 123 fire vehicles in the town, compared with 98 in the three cities, a Times Union review of records revealed.

Some of the city officials explain why that happens.  You can read that report in the Times Union HERE. 

Before we start passing the newspaper around, we had better get this equipment checked out.  I'm going head for the Bunn-O-Matic and get some lucky coffee going for us.  See you back in the day room (and don't step on the crack).

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March Recalls

The Bendix recall (NHTSA 12E-001) for the ATR-6 traction relay valve as reported earlier is still making the news. This is Bendix’s recall, in addition to the various truck builders’ recalls. In this one the now say they have a temporary fix, pending a permanent repair being developed.

 Later information from other more recent publications indicates that they have since developed a permanent repair and are making efforts to get them into the field. This notice says, "Bendix will notify owners who purchased the affected ATR-6 traction relay valves as aftermarket parts.

I’m sure Bendix will make every effort to notify owners, but as I always like to say, if you bought one at a parts counter, there’s a chance that Bendix will have no way of knowing that you have it. If you did so, or if you had one installed at an independent repair shop, I highly recommend that you go back to that parts house or repair shop. Let them trace it out and take appropriate action if need be.

 Most or all truck builders who were holding up shipments of trucks have gotten theirs and are now shipping again.

Paccar (Kenworth and Peterbilt) have issued their own recall (12V-026) for vehicles that were shipped with the affected valves. They show a total of 15,932 trucks involved in their recall.

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Ford is recalling (12V-009) certain 2011 F-650 trucks manufactured between 2/2/2012 and 2/17 2011, and equipped with a Meritor MFS08 front steer axle.

 The bolts attaching the steering arm to the steering knuckle were not properly tightened. This condition can result in the steering arm loosening or separating.

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and repair the vehicles as necessary. Owners may contact the Ford Motor Co. Customer Relationship Center at 866 436 7332. Ford’s campaign number is 11S26. A total of 36 vehicles may be involved.

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Backing Accident

A BELGIAN FIREFIGHTER FROM WILLEBROEK was fatally injured Tuesday night when his own fire engine accidentally drove over him.  It is believed that the 57-yr.-old man was standing on the back or side of the pumper while it was backing up, and he somehow fell off and under the rear wheels where he was crushed to death.  They had been working a vehicle accident on the highway and were leaving.

The driver went into shock immediately on finding out what happened
and had to be transported to the hospital.  (RTL-TV image)

The accident which occurred around 10 pm is still under investigation.

RTL-TV1 filed this brief video report:

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Sunday Morning – Winners and Losers

Let's start off the new week talking about the Winners first.  The 3rd Annual Fire & EMS Blogs of the Year Contest has been concluded and the winners have been announced.  The contest was co-sponsored by FireRescue1, EMS1, and FireCritic.com.  There were more than 80 nominations received (Wow!  I didn't know there were that many blogs out there) and the entries were separated into two groups, Fire-oriented and EMS.  Each category was eligible for two awards, Readers' Choice where vote count determined the outcome, and Judges' Choice where the judges used a pre-determined criteria to select their own Best-of winners.  And those four winning entries are:

A big Congratulations to the deserving winners from Firegeezer.

We recommend that you CLICK HERE to see the listing of all 80+ entries that were submitted because all of them are linked to their respective websites and you can do some quality surfing to find some additional resources for your enlightenment.

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Over on the "Losers" side of today's journal, a few readers have pointed out to us an action taken earlier this past week in northwest Ohio where the Sylvania Township has filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against fire engine builder KME Kovatch.  Using Ohio's "lemon law" as the basis for the suit, they are complaining about three KME engines that they purchased in 2009 and have been nothing but constant problems mechanically since then.

All three pumpers have had issues with sirens, warning lights, pump controllers and other equipment. Other problems have included electrical failures, pieces falling off and a blown diesel engine.  WTOL-TV in Toledo covered the story in this video report:

You can read the details HERE.

Now let's tend to our own details and get our equipment checked out.  I am heading for the Bunn-O-Matic to get more coffee going before we meet back in  the day room

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