Tosa Takes Lead in Smoking Out Best Buy on New Fire Gear

Four firefighters worked feverishly Monday hauling hoses, deploying ladders and swinging sledgehammers to get to an unconscious man and drag him away from a searing fire, then entered a room that had turned into a 785-degree inferno to douse the flames.

In the process of checking the building for other occupants, they crawled blindly into tangled deadend passages and fell through collapsing floors but found no one else trapped inside.

Fortunately, the victim in this blaze, Rugged Ron, a 165-pound dummy, was OK and will be around to be dragged away another day.

The four firefighters, one each from Wauwatosa, Waukesha, Racine and the North Shore fire departments, were chosen as testers in a unique program in which 22 area fire departments are hoping to pool their resources to purchase new "turnouts" — the special coats and pants firefighters wear — and save a few bucks by buying in bulk.

A towering inferno

To test the gear under realistic conditions, West Allis volunteered its fire training building at Station No. 2 at 2040 S. 67th Pl., a tower with winding stairways inside and out, narrow passages and a labyrinth of rooms stocked with various obstacle-course inventions.

The firefighters were looking for the fit and feel of the suits in all the situations they might face in a real fire – and real fire they got. The climax of the test involved entering a small, dark room in which two straw-stuffed mattresses had been set ablaze.

In two rounds of tests in the morning, the temperature in the room got to around 500 degrees Fahrenheit — about as hot as your kitchen oven can get on high bake. But in the third and last test of the day, the staw exploded to 700 degrees before the testers even entered and hit 785 before they were done — hot enough to melt part of the visor of Waukesha firefighter Bryan Keup's helmet.

The sent firefighter Mike Sauer for the test, Racine sent Sue Paluricki, and the North Shore Fire Department offered Chris Chiappa.

Gear from four companies was to have been tested Monday, but one vendor did not participate.

Tosa takes the lead

Tosa was instrumental in putting together the group test, with Deputy Chief Bill Rice taking a leading role. One reason is that the Wauwatosa department is among the biggest buyers.

"We just won a grant, so we'll be buying 72 sets this year," Rice said. "It's called the Fire Act grant, through FEMA."

The FEMA grant provides an 85-15 match, so the city is only on the hook for a fraction of the cost of the new equipment to begin with. But times being what they are, any additional savings are welcome.

"The cost is about $1,800 for a turnout coat and turnout pants," Rice said. "Through economies of scale, we hope to get that price down. Minneapolis did this and brought their price down about $300 per set."

Rice said that if, in the best case, the bulk-buying plan brings the price down so far the department has grant money left over, it might be able to hold the balance over for other upgrades.

After its big buy this year, Tosa plans on buying from five to 10 more new turnout suits each year for the next four years, and the reduced price in a joint bid contract would hold over the life of those purchases.

The fire departments will meet later in June to award the contract to the best turnout gear. The contract to the winning company will be for three years with a two-year renewal.

Fire fashion

Tosa firefighter Sauer was turned out for the test Monday in a mustard-yellow suit with black knee pads that, when he donned his black helmet, made him look a bit like a lanky bumblebee and left him the butt of many jokes.

But you don't buy emergency equipment based on the color.

"It's good," Sauer said of the overall feel of the turnout while he put it through the trials. "There was a little binding in the knees, that was my only concern."

OK, we have to ask. What about the color?

"I think it's hideous," Sauer said. "But I didn't get to choose it."

He'll have to endure more ribbing about it; he'll wear the yellow suit for a week on the job to further test its functionality under any real scenarios that come up.

Tosa Fire Chief Rob Ugaste was on hand to observe, although he said that only two months into his job, he had nothing to do with setting up the joint bid arrangement.

"It's something we should do more of," he said. "I think in the past departments shied away from it. The thinking was that you had to make your own decisions. But the economics make sense."

And what does the chief think of the teasing his firefighter is taking in his standout yellow turnout?

"People think firefighters are so rough and tough," Ugaste said. "But they are very conscious of wanting to look cool. It's very important to them."