Scuttlebutt 9/22

Globe Gear Giveaway Winners

The Riverdale, NJ, Volunteer Fire Department (RFD) and the Springhill Fire Department (SFD), which is located in Nova Scotia, Canada, are the latest recipients of MSA and DuPont’s Globe Gear Giveaway. With the four sets of turnout gear and four helmets that MSA, DuPont and the National Volunteer Fire Council are providing to the RFD and the SFD, a total of 619 sets of turnout gear/helmets have been provided to 136 departments since the program’s launch in 2012.

Recognition of the RFD’s need is rooted in the fact that the turnout gear that it last purchased no longer is NFPA-compliant, that current gear isn’t a correct fit for new members and limited funding barely permits a set or two of new gear to be purchased per year.

More than 80 percent of the gear of the all-volunteer SFD is more than 10 years old. That and the fact that the department’s community’s support—well-meaning as it is—falls short in generating the funding to acquire new gear for members led to the gifting of the turnout gear/helmets.

For more information, visit MSAsafety.com.

Verizon Frontline Adds to Rapid-Response Technology

Following up on the introduction of its Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response (THOR) vehicle in 2021, Verizon Frontline unveiled capability to leverage the vehicle’s deployment Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband and advanced computing solutions for use by first responders, among others, under nearly any conditions. THOR’s Hammer, as the company’s latest innovation is dubbed, is a nearly 30-foot trailer that, via its dual-core network capabilities, can act as a private 5G standalone or nonstandalone network that can be managed locally. Network slicing is possible. This technology, which allocates bandwidth to multiple users based on specific requirements, could provide multiple public safety agencies that are operating in the same area their own dedicated network resources. The Hammer also will incorporate mission critical push-to-talk, land mobile radio and private mobile edge compute capabilities.

To learn more, go to verizon.com/business.

New Executive Leadership at Rosenbauer

The promotion of its vice president of sales and marketing to president and the creation of an executive vice president of operations role is deemed a natural progression for Rosenbauer America and allows the expansion of growth plans.

Mark Fusco is the new president of the company. He oversaw sales and marketing for two-plus years after coming over from John Deere & Company. In addition to oversight of the organization as a whole, Fusco adds supervisory responsibility for customer services/aftersales, new product and technology development, and finance, among others.

Randy Brummel’s role as Rosenbauer’s first executive vice president of operations has him reporting to Fusco in regard to his accountability for the company’s four factory units. This includes operations, supply chain, inside sales and human resources.

For more information, visit rosenbaueramerica.com.

Apex, NC, Captain Presented Training Officer Award

Capt. John White, who is the fire training coordinator for the Apex, NC, Fire Department (AFD), is the recipient of the 2022 VCOS Training Officer Award. The award honors training officers for exemplary conduct and dedication to their department’s training program. The award is presented by Vector Solutions in partnership with the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Volunteer and Combination Officers Section (VCOS).

Leveraging the Vector LMS training management system helped White (center in photo) to ensure that quality training was available to all of his department’s members throughout the pandemic. Impressively, the AFD achieved a Class 1 ISO rating during the height of the pandemic, despite the fact that no grace period was afforded by ISO in light of COVID-19.

White’s other contributions to AFD’s training program include making routine and special training assignments and ensuring that EMS personnel meet the continuing education requirements to maintain their EMT certification.

To learn more, go to iafc.org/vcos.

Wildland/Technical Rescue Garment Among Innovation Winners

The Fire Fox Twin garment, which is manufactured by Heinrich Vorndamme (Horn-Bad Meinberg, Germany), uses an outer layer of DuPont Nomex VRW, which permits multifaceted use. One layer of the garment can be worn by itself for wildland firefighting. The other layer can be worn by itself for technical rescue. When both layers are worn together, they produce a dual-purpose garment.

The Fire Fox Twin is one of four firefighting products that were winners in DuPont’s annual Nomex Innovation Awards. One other winner, Oxylus NYO, by Sioen, is said to be the first wildland gear that has a particulate barrier for use for wildland firefighting. The other two winners, Scantex’s Crossfire outer shell and S-Gard’s SwissGard 2.0, are for structural firefighting.

For more information, visit nomex.com/xtremeperformance.