Battalion Chief's Command Vehicle

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Permalink Reply by Jenny Holderby on November 22, 2008 at 12:41am

Great Custom cabinets there. As for your labeling radios have you thought about color coding them? Mark the chargers on the console (on the bases) with the names of the radios (or types) then put colored stickers on the side of the radio as well. We used the old dymo label makers with different colors of tape.

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Permalink Reply by Captain Busy on November 22, 2008 at 1:57am

I used to be a Dymo Labeler fan but now I'm totally sold on the P-Touch. Thanks for the compliment on the cabinet. One of the logistics guys I work with does some awesome work. Problem is now that he is so busy that we are going to be switching over from wood boxes to metal ones that hopefully are lighter. Thanks for the comments Jenny. Stay safe, Mike

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Permalink Reply by Mark on November 22, 2008 at 9:55am

I notice that there is a lot of stuff in that truck. i would go with a 4 door pick up truck it has more room in it . i also noted that there is no room for anyone else to ride in the truck all his gear is in back seat and stuff on the front seat. And with the pickup you can get an extendo bed that slides out and all the gear ,air pack,and another equipment he carries can be on the slide out.

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Permalink Reply by Ted Bownas on November 22, 2008 at 11:35am

We only run one chief's vehicle in our department. Presently it's a Chevrolet Tahoe, but in the next couple of months it's due to be replaced - it's got nearly 150,000 miles on it.

The new rig will probably be an extended-cab pickup truck with a contractor's cap (the style that opens on both sides as well as in the rear), and will also be a 3/4-ton truck, rather than the half-ton. The Tahoe has sagged in the back and gone through a couple sets of shocks due to all the stuff we carry.

The current car doesn't have a command box in the back - we went through a couple variations of these over the years in other cars, and found what works best for us is just a large aluminum slide-out tray - almost the same dimensions as the cargo area. It has a 500-lb capacity, and holds the chief's gear, SCBA, dry-chem and P/W cans, a set of irons, a Litebox, a folding chair, and a dry-erase command board underneath, which is taken out and propped on top of the tray for incidents where it's needed.

This way, the backseat is still available for seating, which it's used for frequently - it often transports a carload to training sessions, to avoid the necessity for four or five volunteers to drive their own vehicles. The tray also allows the use of the cargo area for cargo (ie, turnout gear bags and luggage) if desired.

Our command radios are mounted in the rear, on one side panel, so they stay in the vehicle and don't interfere with the slide out drawer.

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Permalink Reply by Captain Busy on November 22, 2008 at 1:40pm

While the photos depict a full back seat, the area behind the rear seat and in front of the command box easily holds the PPE and SCBA should three people or something else be required to be put in the rear bench seat. Driving our two most distant stations takes roughly 02:45 hours. There is a distinct comfort factor involved here. The vehicle that you describe would be cool for our departments Logistics Officer. I would appreciate seeing what the slide out looks like and how you set it up. Why reinvent the wheel? Who knows, maybe we will change from Suburban''s to trucks... Thanks so much for the input. ms

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Permalink Reply by Ted Bownas on November 22, 2008 at 8:12pm

There are contractor-style heavy-duty bed slides made by a number of companies. Here's an example: http://www.truckspecialties.com/bedslide.htm

A Google search will serve you fine here - almost any of them can be readily adapted to fire service use - as you say, why reinvent the wheel?

The one we have in our Tahoe now is just an aluminum tray cut lengthwise to fit the dimensions of the cargo area behind the rear seat, and widthwise to fit the rear opening. The sides are about eight inches high, bent on a sheetmetal brake and MIG-welded at the corners. We used a set of slideout glides from an apparatus compartment tray that we removed from a rig some years back and had lying around.

In hindsight, by the time we had the tray built to fit our Tahoe, we probably spent almost as much as one of these commercially made units would've cost, if not more, so we'll probably just buy them from now on. It's easy enough to build shelves or dividers on the tray to suit your purposes, out of either plywood or 1/8" aluminum. Our present tray doesn't have dividers, just mounting brackets for the extinguishers and irons, and a tiedown strap for the SCBA, which lives in a nylon carry bag.

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Permalink Reply by FETC on November 22, 2008 at 12:50pm

Mike,

Nice set-up. Looks like most of the interior work was done by a crafty firefighter? How is all of it mounted and bolted down in case of a rollover?

We have the same set-up less the front wood box betweeen the seats in a Suburban as well. Our rear working Command Center is a commercially built workstation but basically the same idea. We have the LED warning lights on the bottom of the lift gate for rear warning, a LED night light mounted on the inside of the rear door to allow more working light for night ops. And the rear canopy for added protection from the weather.

Question: Whats up with the light bar on that modern rig? Did that get moved from another rig? I would have expected a high end low profile light bar from CalFire

FETC

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Permalink Reply by Captain Busy on November 22, 2008 at 2:58pm

The Battalion Chief who designed the car is also a contractor... Everything is well thought out. You ask an excellent question about rollover protection. These command boxes are custom built and installed / mounted to the flooring and side areas of the rear and onto the floorboard in the front.

The new BC Vehicles will have the additional LED's in the rear hatch and a light for night ops in the middle of the rear interior headliner area. Haven't seen a rear canopy, but it's an awesome idea, specially when it's raining.

* Do you use it for shade as well?
* How long does it take to set up?
* How much room does it take up for storage?
* How much does it cost?
* How do you secure the bottom of the rear canopy to the ground?
* How do you mounted it to the rear hatch and rear of the vehicle?
* Are there permanent attachment points?
* Have they held up well?

Also, we are not CalFire, we are a contract county with CalFire responsibilities in the state owned lands. That being said, the opinion in these days of budget justifications ended up retiring the old BC vehicle and taking the equipment off of it and putting it on the new one. Things are getting pretty slim lately and it was purely a fiscal decision. The new BC vehicle and those constructed thereafter will all have the newer more "flashy" bling style lightbar...

Any chance you can post a photo of:

1. Interior LED Work Light to show how much light it puts out. Here's an example of the light output for the one that I specified for the rear compartment.

2. Rear hatch LED Warning Lights.

* Do you use only Amber colored LED warning lights on the hatch or do you include Red or both?
* Can you post a photo showing where you mounted the LED lights?
* Can you post a photo showing the lights working at night?

I know I'm asking a lot here but a new standard is being made and I'd like to be able to use your data to justify what I am trying to accomplish here.

Thanks brother. SB Mike

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Permalink Reply by Barry on November 22, 2008 at 1:03pm

Not bad for a 1 man vehicle, who spent the time to label and file everything?

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Permalink Reply by Captain Busy on November 22, 2008 at 3:01pm

The Battalion Chief who was assigned this vehicle did the design, layout and supervised where both communications and lighting equipment was placed. This included the organization and stocking of his personal gear as well all the "chief stuff" he needs to have on hand. SB Mike

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Permalink Reply by turk182 on November 22, 2008 at 3:32pm

Does he ever have to take this vehicle off road for anything?

If he does you might want to think about putting a winch on it we put one on our brush truck that mounts in a tail hitch and can be moved to the front if needed.

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Permalink Reply by turk182 on November 22, 2008 at 3:36pm

I also noticed the flash light the flash light next to the scba and was wondering if you have a charge mounted in the vehicle for it?

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