The
Arlington County, Virginia Fire Department contracted
with Hackney to manufacture eight (8) High Performance
Mobile Air Units for the National Capital Region (NCR).
These jurisdictions include the Arlington County Fire
Department, District of Columbia Fire Department,
Montgomery County Fire Department, Prince George's
County Fire Department, City of Alexandria Fire Department,
Fairfax County Fire-Rescue, Prince William County
Fire-Rescue, and the Loudoun County Fire Department.
There units can be used as required by each of the
jurisdiction, as required, for local incidents and
are rapidly deployable for use anywhere in the National
Capital Region.
The units were purchased under a
Department of Homeland Security grant known as U.A.S.I.
(Urban Area Security Initiative). Battalion Chief
Doug Insley of the Arlington County FD was the project
manager for this initiative which is part of the NCR
firefighter respiratory protection program. Chief
Insley led a task group to design a mobile air unit
that would be able to sustain operations during any
type of regional or localized emergency or disaster
operation with the NCR. These include such target
hazards as the Pentagon in Arlington County, the Capitol
and White House in DC, the CIA in Fairfax and all
the other sensitive federal installations in the region,
as well as the Metro Rail System which is the second
largest in the United States with an annual ridership
of 190 million people.
The task group worked closely with
Hackney and Scott Air to design a mobile unit that
would meet the establish performance for filling not
less than sixty one-hour, 4500 psi SCBA's per hour
over a sustained period of time. The concept also
required the ability to transport not less than ninety-six
(96) filled one-hour bottles and twenty (20) complete
SCBA's with filled one-hour cylinders. Another important
criteria was to minimize the wheelbase to a manageable
length due to the dense traffic pattern and tight
operations zones in which the units would be required
to respond.
The compressor is a 65 cfm, air-cooled
block rated at 6000 psi. Scott designed an automatic
manifold system that permits three RevolveAir 2X2
fill stations to be operations simultaneously. The
RevolveAir technology vastly increased the number
of fills at each station, documented at 25% faster
than conventional cascading methods. The system provides
for two bottles to be filled while two are being removed
and two empties are attached. By the time these functions
are complete, the two in the fill chamber are completely
charged, allowing the operator to rotate the full
bottles out while simultaneously rotating the empties
into the chamber. Fast and simple. The electronics
incorporated into the system provide automatic fill
rates and keeps the ten (10) 6000 psi ASME's fully
charged between SCBA charge cycles. One of the three
stations provides for conventional cascading should
air quality shut-down the compressor. There is one
station on each side of the body and one in the rear
providing an unobstructed for each operator. All three
stations are provided with electrically controlled
awnings.
Using the exclusive Hackney drop/pinch
frame technology allowed Hackney to squeeze all the
requirements into a compact wheelbase (223")
using a 19.5-ft body with all roll-up doors. The massive
75,000 watt generator is mounted inside the left front
compartment, protecting it from corrosive road spray.
A four-lamp light tower is mounted inside a limb guard
on the body roof. Two (2) MagnaFire flood lights are
installed on the upper left and right sides of the
body. High pressure and low pressure utility air hose
reels and cord reels in strategically provided. The
mobile units are NFPA 1901 compliant and feature a
100% multiplexed electrical system with digital and
graphic LCD screen controls and diagnostics. All emergency
lighting, compartment lighting and clearance and tail
lights are LED.
The
Arlington County, Virginia Fire Department contracted
with Hackney to manufacture eight (8) High Performance
Mobile Air Units for the National Capital Region (NCR).
These jurisdictions include the Arlington County Fire
Department, District of Columbia Fire Department,
Montgomery County Fire Department, Prince George's
County Fire Department, City of Alexandria Fire Department,
Fairfax County Fire-Rescue, Prince William County
Fire-Rescue, and the Loudoun County Fire Department.
There units can be used as required by each of the
jurisdiction, as required, for local incidents and
are rapidly deployable for use anywhere in the National
Capital Region. 
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