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SAFENET

Wildland Fire Safety & Health Reporting Network

SAFENET Event Information
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SAFENET ID:
20200220-0001        [Corrective Actions]
Event Start Date:
02/07/2020 0800
Event Stop Date:
 
Incident Name:
Southwest Engine Academy
Fire Number:
 
State:
Arizona
Jurisdiction:
USFS
Local Unit:
Incident Type:
Training
Incident Activity:
Readiness/Preparedness
Stage of Incident:
Non-incident
Position Title:
SWEA Cadre 
Task:
Engine Pumping 
Management Level:
N/A
Resources Involved:
USFS Model 346 
Contributing Factors
Contributing Factors:
Equipment
Human Factors:
 
Other Factors:
 
Narrative
Describe in detail what happened including the concern or potential issue, the environment (weather, terrain, fire behavior, etc), and the resulting health issue.
Some issues are starting to show up at the Southwest Engine Academy on the Type 3 Engines. We chose the latest generations of the USFS national standards to put into the pumping practical portion of the academy. These models are the Model 346, BME built and have the Freightliner chassis.

While pumping these engines for the last ten days, we are starting to see a “high idle” mode the truck puts itself into. This mode affects the pump side of the truck as well. Once the high idle mode starts itself, the pump side of the truck generates approximately 90 extra PSI while the pump is engaged. So for instance, if a student is pumping during their practical and the engine goes into high idle, the PDP the student has set on the pressure gauge is off by the 90 PSI the high idle creates. So, if the pump is set at 150 PSI, and the high idle kicks in, we now see 240 PSI on the pressure gauge and that pressure is sent to the nozzle at the end of the hoselay.

We have been testing two of these trucks for the last ten days. One truck will allow the pump operator to engage the PTO at high idle. The other one will not allow the PTO to engage during high idle.

This unforeseen rise in pressure of approximately 90 PSI poses a serious risk to the operator and nozzle person. The other risk is the inability to engage the PTO for water deliver.
Immediate Action Taken
Reporting Individual : please describe actions you took to correct or mitigate the unsafe/unhealthful event.
This issue has been attempted to be remedied through computer programming to no effect. We tried to set max high idle, observed to see if it was exhaust regeneration which was verified not to be the case. Applying the foot brake prevented the high idle but would return to high idle once the brake pedal was released. Cruise control was not engaged. This would also occur when pump was engaged and RPMs were increased at the pump control panel during pumping operations. All options were exhausted and ultimately the engines were taken out of service for pumping.


Agency Response

20200220-0001-CA001

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