Viewfinder: Up Close Look At Fire Equipment

For this week's Viewfinder I stopped by the to take some photos that reveal some details of modern firefighting equipment. Firefighter on duty Ken Watson was kind enough to provide information about the fire company and its equipment.

Narberth Fire Company is part of Region 4 of the the Montgomery County Fire Service. It is station number 26, a number that appears on all its vehicles. It is manned by three paid firefighters, each taking a shift of 24 hour days on duty, and by 45 volunteers. It works cooperatively with other fire departments in surrounding communities, and can assist in any of the surrounding counties if called to do so. Each year the company responds to about 275 calls in and around Narberth.

The company is part of the Montco Fire Radio system.  It can communicate directly, vehicle to vehicle, with any Montco fire apparatus. The fire engines and trucks are not only equipped with two way radios, but also have computers that connect to Montco Fire Radio. They can use those computers to do everything from find a fire hydrant to identify hazardous materials from the codes on their containers. 

I learned that the fire company has practice drills every month. In the near future, I'll cover one of those drills for this feature.