Population
26,000
Annual Incidents
1,250
Crew Roster
38
Square Miles Served
5
Minutes to Service Ready
20
CASE STUDY - REEDLEY FIRE DEPARTMENT
“We had goals in our head and SAM actually allowed us to meet those goals. In fact SAM exceeded our expectations. The real life product was better than what we were told it would be.”
Battalion Chief, Justin Watson
Background
The Reedley Fire Department is located in the Central Valley, 30 minutes east of Fresno, California. Nestled between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the foothills, with the Kings River running through the town, the city is approximately 5 square miles with 26,000 residents. The department has 3 full time employees with 35 volunteers, and they receive an average of 1,250 fire-related calls per year.
Challenge
In 2020, the Reedley Fire Department began talking with their local Sales Rep about a relatively new product on the market called SAM.
Department Need
The biggest challenge facing the department was discovering a creative solution to decrease accidents and falls as firefighters got on and off the trucks.
Department Goals
Risk management and injury prevention were primary objectives when purchasing a new engine. However, it was proving difficult to decrease the number of steps to climb to reach the preconnect on a traditional engine. The lowest option found on the market was 82 vertical inches, almost 7 feet.
Chief Nass, Hadley Township Fire Department
Departments from all over Michigan have come to look at it.I get a call every week from a chief somewhere in America asking about SAM.
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Solution
After speaking with the engineers because the SAM system eliminates mechanics and condenses space within the engine, the Reedley Fire Department was able to find a solution in which the preconnect hoses would be only 65 inches, or 5 ft 5 in, off the ground.
With the use of airbags that could deflate once parked, the vertical height decreased to 58 inches, or 4 ft 10 in. Prior to the Department’s knowledge of SAM, the Reedley team did not know it was feasible to bring down the engine that far. Engineers at the manufacturing facility told the department that SAM would allow them to achieve the risk management goals they had set for themselves.
Results
SAM allowed the Reedley Fire Department to decrease the height of their new fire engine and thus decrease the likelihood of injury to their employees and volunteers as they previously had to climb the engine to retrieve hoses atop the truck.
Now, because of SAM, firefighters can reach the hoses without needing to climb steps. Further, older members of the team were concerned about the technology and software, but have been pleasantly surprised by the simplicity of the system. Reedley’s Battalion Chief, Justin Watson, noted a surprising upside of being the first in the region to adopt the SAM system: increased collaboration and relationship building. Departments in surrounding areas are intrigued with the technology. SAM has become an important outreach and networking tool for the Reedley Fire Department, allowing the team to train others on how to use the system. SAM has transformed the Reedley Fire Department in all areas – team culture, training, outreach, efficiency, and risk management.
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