“OOOHHHH, Look, Something Shiny!”

Don’t let the excitement of a new apparatus overwhelm your good judgment
By Scott Cook

It happens a lot. You’ve just purchased a new apparatus, and it’s ready for delivery. Hopefully, you’ll be doing a final inspection at the factory, but you may be doing it at the station when the vehicle is delivered. It all depends on who you bought it from and what you negotiated up front.

In any case, resist the urge to accept an apparatus with the promise that “if you find anything wrong, we’ll come fix it.” Sometimes holding out for a thorough inspection is a hard thing to do. Especially when you’ve been waiting for a year or more, and even more so when it’s your department’s very first brand new, built-just-for-you fire apparatus.

Once you take delivery of that rig, getting things fixed can be a cake walk, or a nightmare. And it doesn’t matter what the problem is. Simple things can be impossible to get fixed, while the seemingly hardest can be the easiest. It all depends on the dealer and the manufacturer. And consider too, that some things can only be fixed during construction (which is why you should do a midline inspection and spec review).

Take for example Bob’s fire department. They bought something simple, say a new squad on an aftermarket chassis. They didn’t do a thorough predelivery inspection. Bob put the truck in service without knowing that when Fly-By-Night (FBN) Fire Apparatus put the wig-wags in, they wired them wrong. Bob and the guys found that little tidbit out on the first night run the truck made. No bright lights on an apparatus that runs dark country roads. And the vendor says “how do you know it didn’t work when we brought it to you? We can fix it, but we have to take it back to the factory.” The factory is 1,000 miles away…

Or Bill’s fire department. They did buy a nice apparatus: 2,500-gpm pump, 450-hp engine, five-seat cab, plenty of compartment space. And a brake ABS warning light that won’t go out was thrown in for no extra charge. It’s been that way since delivery. Sure it’s a small, seemingly insignificant thing and 8 years ago Bill took delivery of it anyway. No one knows why that light can’t be fixed. They’re pretty sure it’s not a problem with the brakes though…

Paul’s fire department bought an engine, and did thorough midline and final inspections at the factory. On the final inspection, while reviewing the specs against the apparatus, Paul found a valve on the suction side of the pump where there wasn’t supposed to be one.

“NFPA requires that,” the vendor said.

“Show us that it will pass the pump test then.”

“Here’s the pump test certification,” replied the vendor.

“Run the test again while we watch,” said Paul.

So the pump test was done and promptly failed. The apparatus wouldn’t pass the pump test. Everything else on the apparatus met spec, but Paul’s department refused delivery until the pump test could be passed. Finally, the manufacturer removed the unnecessary valve and the pump test was passed and the apparatus was delivered.

Several years ago, we solicited quotes for new apparatus. We received a couple, and after reviewing the specs found that one vendor quoted us an engine/transmission combination that both the engine and transmission builder’s literature clearly stated were not compatible. The vendor—a friend—was put out by the fact that we wouldn’t buy his apparatus because of that. Really put out. But, we had a budget, and who knows how much the “oops factor” was going to cost us once the deal was done. Or how much truck we’d have to give up to stay within our budget.

I recall sitting at the station one night in the early ’90’s when a FBN Fire Apparatus dealer came by with a “demo” light-rescue truck for sale—cheap. Seems that the department that ordered it decided they didn’t want it when the dealer brought it over for delivery because of the seating arrangements (very smart move on their part). The spec called for seating for four firefighters. The rescue truck was built on a heavy 1-ton chassis with a bench seat that could seat three. The fourth seat (and I promise this is true) was in the large compartment behind the driver. Open the door, and there was a rear-facing seat, complete with a seatbelt. No door-handle on the inside. No sign on the door that someone was inside. The guy opens the door, sits down, buckles up and the driver closes the door. (To be fair to FBN Fire Apparatus, this would be great for field trips. Put a guy in there and when you’re showing off the truck, open the door and while the guy is waving to the crowd say “this is where we keep a spare firefighter. You know, just in case we need one.” Close the door and move on to the next compartment like it’s a normal thing.)

But, the truck was shiny, and we had a few folks interested in it (although they agreed no one would be put in the compartment). We had to stop and ask ourselves, if a manufacturer will build an apparatus like that, what do you expect the quality of that apparatus to be?

To be sure, there are going to be some things that just won’t reveal themselves until the apparatus is run for a bit: loose screws, a tank not bolted down, that sort of thing. But the urge to have a new truck must not override the necessity to perform a thorough predelivery inspection. Go over the apparatus with a fine tooth comb against the spec. If something doesn’t match the spec or you find shoddy workmanship, document it. Put it in writing and get the dealer to review and sign it. Consider taking pictures too.

The bottom line: By all means, resist the urge to take delivery of or buy something without plenty of research and thorough inspection.

Scott Cook is the former chief of the Granbury (Texas) Volunteer Fire Department and a fire service instructor. He’s also a member of FireRescue’s editorial board.



Copyright © Elsevier Inc., a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
SUBSCRIBE to FIRERESCUE