This presentation stresses the importance for fire departments to have maintenance and testing programs in place to assure in-service fire apparatus performs safely and reliably.  The presentation discusses maintaining, inspecting, and testing in-service fire apparatus as defined by the National Fire Protection Association, NFPA 1911 Standard for Inspection, Maintenance, Testing, and Retirement of In-Service Automotive Fire Apparatus.   It is mission critical for fire departments to have maintenance and testing programs in place to assure in-service fire apparatus performs safely and reliably during emergency or training situations. 

In today’s environment of budget cuts and fire departments operating smarter to make every dollar count, a quality preventative maintenance and inspection program is essential to obtain the optimum performance from every piece of fire apparatus.  NFPA 1911 includes frequency guidelines for maintenance, inspection, and testing (pump, aerial, etc.) for in-service fire apparatus.  Compliance with NFPA 1911 provides assurance that fire apparatus will operate as intended during emergency response and training activities.

There is an increasing global interest by purchasers and users to assure compliance with NFPA Standards.  This presentation will also provide information on NFPA 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus; and NFPA 1906, Standard for Wildland Fire Apparatus with regard to manufacturer’s testing and certification responsibilities, third party testing organization’s responsibilities, and purchaser’s responsibilities.

It is extremely important that today’s fire departments are knowledgeable in the test results and certification of systems they are receiving.  Not only will it provide them with the information on their new fire apparatus, but it will also establish a baseline of testing information, which will be needed when setting up a preventive maintenance and inspection regiment for the new in-service fire apparatus.  Knowledge is power and when purchasing a new vehicle, this awareness is crucial for fire departments and the communities they serve!