Palmerdale Fire Chief Says Expert Testing Can Help Prevent Minor Issues From Becoming Major

The Palmerdale Fire Department, which covers 52 square miles on the outskirts of Birmingham, originally chose to partner with this IIA legacy company for reasons ranging from affordability to know-how.

“The pricing was very good, and we found out that the company was started by a group of firefighters. We were happy with them,” recalls Deputy Chief Archer. “But after 3 or 4 years, we had a budget crunch, so we had to have our guys do the hose testing again.”

In 2024, when funds became available, the Palmerdale Fire Department once again sought hose testing services from IIA. When IIA’s expert technicians performed the testing, nearly 4,700 feet of hose failed and had to be taken out of service until it could be repaired or replaced.

While hose failures during testing are inconvenient, they can be dangerous if they occur during an actual emergency. In retrospect, Deputy Chief Archer believes that third-party testing might have caught minor issues before they became major.

“If we had continued to outsource hose testing to IIA, they might have found problems with the hose before it got to the point that it failed,” he says. “We could have planned a bit better so it wouldn’t have been such a hit to the budget.”

There are a number of reasons it pays to partner with a professional testing company like IIA. Because they perform testing every day, technicians develop an eye for detail that allows them to catch issues early on.

“You’re better off having a third party come in and test because it takes away all the guesswork and liability on your guys,” says Deputy Chief Archer. “The testing records provided by IIA are a big benefit —they’re easy to read, easy to keep track of, and easy to follow.”

In addition, the physical demands of in-house testing can potentially impact firefighters’ performance should an emergency occur during or after hose testing.

“When we performed hose testing in-house, we needed to get everybody from both stations to help out,” says Deputy Chief Archer. “If you test on a hot summer day, the firefighters are spent when they’re done testing the hose. You just hope and pray that you don’t have a fire when they are that tired.”

IIA is proud to provide expert services that allow firefighters to focus on what they do best: keeping their communities safe. “IIA inspectors are experienced and know what they’re doing. And they load the hose back on the trucks better than we do,” says Deputy Chief Archer.

“Now we know our host testing is going to be done right, there’s less chance of a failure on a fire scene, and our guys are going to be protected as far as the water supply goes. IIA does a fantastic job.”