The next evolution in lighting involved truck mounted scene lights which were 12 volts and operated on the trucks DC power system. These lights were permanently mounted to the truck — a vehicle head light surrounded by a chrome housing with an on and off switch. These lights could rotate left and right but could not extend any higher than the level that they were mounted. If you were off the road a little ways or blocked by another structure you were out of luck.
The next evolution in scene lighting was to mount a generator on the fire truck and go from DC voltage to AC voltage and boost the wattage of the lights, this would also allow them now to move the lights away from the truck to the area that they are working. Law enforcement found the fire department very useful in lighting up a crime scene or accident scene so they could process it when it happened, not waiting until first light. Mobile lights were good but they were all ground lights and did not offer any over head lighting. The lighting tripod came along in the late 1800s but didn’t make it to the fire service until the early 1900s where they were used in Hollywood Ca at Metro Pictures Corporation during a fire on a set. The lights belonged to Metro but were very useful to the fire department for the night time fire.
In today’s modern fire service we have many different types of lighting options:
- Quarts Halogen
- Halogen Infrared (HIR)
- Par36, Par46
- High Intensity Discharge (HID)
- Light Emitting Diode (LED).
The voltages range from 12-24 volt DC to 120-240 volts AC.
Wattage is hard to explain but simply put, it is the measure of the amount of power used. You will find lights ranging from 150 to 1500 watts. Most light manufacturers are including the lumens measurement now along with wattage. Lumens measure the flux of a light being produced by a light source or received by a surface. You can’t convert directly between watts and lumens because they are measuring completely different things.
The newest light on the market for the fire service is the LED (Light Emitting Diode). LEDs are a semiconductor light source and are often small in area (less than 1 mm2), and integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation pattern. LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light sources, including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching and greater durability and reliability. LEDs powerful enough for room lighting, are relatively expensive and require more precise current and heat management than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output. The largest lumen output in an LED fire service light is the Spectra by FRC. It generates 20,000 lumens, which the company says is the closest thing to natural sunlight currently on the market. All the manufactures say the LED is here to stay.
The fire grounds that we encounter today are much different than the fire grounds our predecessors had to deal with. From 20 car motor vehicle accidents, to high rise fires and environmental disasters, our lighting has certainly changed for the better.
Today’s modern fire trucks have at least two and as many as 20 telescoping, tripod, ground and fixed mounted scene lights to aid in any scenario the crew finds them self in. The proper lighting on an emergency scene can mean the difference between a safe well lit scene and someone going to the hospital.
Our operations can take us away from the safety of the fire truck with all the lights pointing at the operation, so now we take tripod scene lights with us to light up an area that the truck mounted lights can not reach — like the back of a structure, a wreck in the woods or wildland rescue operation.
The tripod scene light has added a great deal of safety to the fire grounds, but what about that extension cord that we drag along to power the light? It too has its draw backs that hamper operations. The cord is too short, the generator is over extended and there is standing water where the tripod needs to be placed. How do you over come these small problems?
The newest lighting tool to hit the market is a tripod scene light that has its own power source. These “All Terrain Scene Lights (ATSL)” as they are called are not dependent on extension cords or water soaked ground. They are able to fold up and fit in the compartment on the truck and be ready for use when and where ever needed. These ATSL tripods have fully adjustable legs and can be placed on uneven terrain, unlike the regular tripod which needs mostly flat ground to stand straight. They are equipped with small lightweight generators and extendable light poles so they are very portable. Some models even come with a shoulder strap.
The light sizes ranges from 500 watts to 1500 watts, with run times from four hours to seven hours depending on the load being put on the generator. These lights can be carried and set up by one person and also be moved or repositioned while running. This would be a great tool for disaster areas where truck movement is limited and the power is unavailable.
Today’s public safety personnel are presented with an ever changing world that seems to test their resourcefulness. Most of the tools that the fire service has today are because some fireman somewhere created it.
I am proud to be called a firefighter. Be safe out there.
Joe Robinson is with Traffic Safety System in Fairview North Carolina.