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2 <br />a much brighter light yet uses minimal power to run. One creature comfort for the crew is that <br />they will have air conditioning in the new engine versus the current one. <br />From an operational perspective, we will exp lore the possibility of an elevated pump panel or <br />rear pump panel. The intent of either of these options is to provide better visibility for the pump <br />operator. W e will also be pursuing an integrated foam system. This will allow us to keep Class <br />A and Class B foam stored separately in tanks on the engine. With the push of a button all of <br />our hose lines that are connected to that system will have foam automatically mixed in. <br />Currently we have to grab 5 gallon containers of foam and utilize a firefighter to manually add <br />that to a hose line and swap out containers as they empty. See exhibit A. This is only capable of <br />doing that on one line versus all of them. Foam is used for fires as well as hazmat situations <br />and fuel spills. This has allowed us to use less water because the foam cools as well as <br />suppresses fire much faster. <br />Also, a new design will allow us to better customize how that engine operates based on our day <br />to day operations. We will be able to better design compartments around our equipment, what <br />we utilize more often and how a crew of 2 accesses equipment versus a crew of 4 or 5 on other <br />departments. Efficiencies will be a part of this design as well as overall safety. <br />For your information, back in 1985 we did a group purchase of this style of engine with 4 other <br />cities: Plymouth, Inver Grove Heights, North St. Paul, and Columbia Heights. One city replaced <br />their engine after 22 years and the rest were at 27 to 30. <br />Another area that we need to take note of is spreading out the purchasing of our engines. As we <br />know it makes it much more manageable for the city. We currently have 2 engines that are 1 <br />year apart in age. We as a department decided several years back to split the time for each of <br />them as our primary fire engine to be focused on winter and summer. This allows us to spread <br />out the wear and tear over 2 vehicles with the intent of that 30+ year life span. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />