EPA eases emergency response vehicle engine rules
Last October, the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Southeastern Division (SEAFC) began lobbying to have fire trucks and emergency equipment excluded from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Clean Diesel Campaign. The EPA’s campaign, enacted in 2010, set engine-emission regulations for heavy-duty vehicles, excluding only military and construction vehicles.
“Fire apparatus are going into ‘regeneration’ at the scene of fires to begin the burn off process causing units to shut down, thus leaving firefighters with no water to fight a fire until replacement units can arrive,” the SEAFC letter stated. “This situation could cause the loss of life to a fire fighter or to a taxpayer who is depending on the fire engine reaching them in time to save them and their property.”
SEAFC began the campaign following the report on a San Diego fire truck that shut down on scene, according to Dan Cimini, retired assistant chief for Myrtle Beach, S.C. Fire departments throughout the southeastern region also had reported problems with the regeneration process of the engines and spurred on SEAFC.
“For volunteer departments this is particularly troublesome because they are told that when the light goes on, you cannot interrupt the regeneration process,” he said.
In a surprising move last week, EPA Director Lisa Jackson signed the “EPA Relief for Fire Trucks and Ambulances Emission Control Systems” document. In a proposal mirrored in a direct final action, the EPA is offering regulatory flexibility for dedicated emergency vehicles and their engines, related to implementation of EPA’s 2007/2010 criteria pollutant standards.
Read the entire story from FIRE CHIEF, our sister publication.
