COMPAIR MAKO, manufacturer of high-pressure breathing air compressors and equipment, is relaunching the MAKO brand name. To highlight this change, the company has unveiled a new logo, Web site, and corporate identify package that will take effect on January 1, 2005.
BOUND TREE MEDICAL, LLC introduces the Legacy Scholarship Award, aimed at promoting the professional status of emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Bound Tree Medical, an emergency medical equipment distributor and supplier to the prehospital market in the United States, is dedicating $50,000 in scholarship awards starting November 2004. Children of EMTs and firefighters interested in becoming EMTs or advancing their certification by becoming paramedics are eligible to apply.
Bound Tree Medical is dedicated to alleviating the financial burden associated with the EMT and paramedic certification process. The scholarship awards will be available nationwide for those who fit the eligibility criteria and are interested in pursuing a state-approved certification program. For an application, guidelines, and more information, visit the Bound Tree Medical Web site at www.boundtree.com or call (800) 533-0523.
Bound Tree Medical, LLC’s new Grant Division helps streamline and expedite the grant research and writing process for customers, including finding funding opportunities, matching them with qualifying customers, providing a free alert service, and offering grant writing assistance. Millions of dollars in federal and private funding remains untapped every year because of the lack of time and resources of applicants. The one-stop resource from the Bound Tree Grant Division provides a customized matching process through which customers can simply complete an on line needs assessment, free of charge, and be automatically notified which funding opportunities, public and private, fit their specific needs. A staff of professional grant writers has prepared systematic means to research funding opportunities, match customers with appropriate grants, assist with application forms, and provide grant writing assistance. For more information regarding the Bound Tree Grants Division, please visit www.boundtreegrants.com.
Fire apparatus manufacturer CRIMSON FIRE and ambulance manufacturer ROAD RESCUE announced the addition of Harless Fire Equipment, based in Birmingham, Alabama, to its network of dealer partners. Harless, serving Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi markets, is a full-service dealer for Crimson Fire aerials and fire trucks and Road Rescue ambulances and is an authorized Spartan Chassis service center. The dealership has four sales and three service centers. Additonally, there is a Crimson Fire factory service center in Alabama and a Road Rescue facility in Marion, South Carolina. Crimson Fire, Road Rescue, and Spartan Chassis are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Spartan Motors, Inc. For more information, visit www.harlessfire.com and www.spartanmotors.com.
Crimson Fire recently opened a new 32,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at its headquarters in Brandon, South Dakota. It will double Crimson’s capacity at the site and allows it to add equipment, improve its manufacturing process, and meet the demand for its products.
FIRST STEPS, INC., maker of the 911 Code Red Team™ Helmet, wants real stories of fire rescues involving children for use in producing fire prevention-oriented comic books and animated videos. For more information, contact Felix Batts at (877) 291-4504 or (252) 363-2821 or visit www.911CodeRedTeam.com.
AUDIOPACK TECHNOLOGIES has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award for the development of a new radio system capable of reliably transmitting data from first responders inside a burning building to the commander and rescue team outside.
Historically, handheld radios have generally provided adequate coverage outdoors but radio transmission distance and reliability suffer when a first responder team moves inside a structure, especially in buildings with high metal content. Emergency radio signals often aren’t strong enough to punch through building walls, resulting in dangerous situations where firefighters are isolated within a burning structure.
With the assistance of the NSF grant, Audiopack will develop a working prototype of a new communications system using “ad-hoc” or “mesh networked” radios in which each first responder’s radio acts as a network node. If a transmission fails to reach the incident commander outside, it is automatically rerouted through other nodes in the network until it reaches its ultimate destination. Driven by sophisticated network software, the system self-heals in the event one or more nodes are eliminated. Nodes also can be placed inside doorways or windows to serve as repeaters between the commander outside and firefighters inside.
As part of this NSF award, Audiopack will marry the ad hoc networked radio system being prototyped with its personal accountability system, which tracks and transmits critical data such as remaining tank pressure, time remaining, ambient temperature, and physiological data. Combined with the ad hoc networked radio system, this information can be reliably transmitted to incident commanders, allowing them to track firefighter status and extract individuals or teams before a crisis occurs. Web site: www.audiopack.com.
AKRON BRASS COMPANY named Jeff Benson dstrict sales representative for Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and West Virginia. A five-year employee of the company, Benson covered an Industrial Sales area over the past several months and is a 15-year veteran of the fire service. Akron named Steve Robertson director of Canadian and industrial sales. He will continue to oversee the field sales activities at Akron Manufacturing Company (AMC) in Canada and will also be responsible for the Industrial Sales Division.
The company appointed Mike Beutler as a district sales manager with responsibility for Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and northern Idaho. He has served more than 25 years in the fire service and is involved with the Oregon Fire Service Museum and the Pacific Northwest Chapter of SPAAMFAA, an organization promoting the preservation of antique fire apparatus.
Akron named Anthony H. Chang sales development manager for Asia. Most recently, he worked for Comfort Delgro Engineering in Singapore as manager of special vehicles, working with government agencies on special vehicles such as fire trucks, ladders, command vehicles, and ambulances.
