Suffolk Fire and Rescue 3

With the survival of its fire crews and the public often dependent on an immediate source of breathing air, the Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service expects its CompAir Reavell breathing air compressors to operate at peak performance, every day of the year.

In order to secure a high-quality, uninterrupted air supply at all times, the Service has recently renewed and upgraded its CompAir Reavellife maintenance contract to include all routine servicing and air tests; enjoying a 20% saving on parts’ costs and ensuring maximum availability of air.

Suffolk Fire and Rescue has relied on the service expertise of local Ipswich-based CompAir engineers for more than eleven years, confident that using the original equipment manufacturer to carry out its maintenance rather than a general service provider offers benefits in the levels of equipment expertise, technical support and the availability of genuine spare parts.

During this time, it has tailored its breakdown and maintenance cover to suit operational demands and now considers CompAir as its preferred contractor as Phil Dillon, Head of Engineering at Suffolk Fire and Rescue explains. “Safety legislation is changing all the time and we need our suppliers to keep abreast of new British Standards’ developments so that we have the most advanced and safest equipment solutions at our disposal.

“Over the years, CompAir has proved more than competent to meet this challenge, and as part of the contract terms, is now tasked with advising the service on any compressor modifications or design changes required to keep our breathing air as safe as it can possibly be.

“Quite simply, we have deemed it to be both best practice and best value to secure CompAir’s services for the maintenance of all of our breathing air compressors. With its OEM status, we can take full advantage of its technical knowledge and expertise thereby ensuring total compliance with any legislative and technical changes in the provision of breathing air compressors and air purity testing.”

The British standards for air purity have become increasingly stringent and to ensure continued compliance, the Service initially sent its air cylinders to CompAir’s specialist testing facility in Ipswich for quality checks and certification. With units needing to be collected from 35 fire stations across the region, this method was labour intensive and could have reduced spare cylinder capacity at times of greatest need, especially during periods of high operational activity.

Phil Dillon continues, “As all our cylinders are filled from a known and compliant source, the CompAir compressors, we decided that we could save time, travelling expense and ensure maximum availability by monitoring the air purity at the point of compression, rather than via checks on individual cylinders Our latest contract agreement now includes four visits a year to each of our air and water-cooled compressors housed at seven stations, with one major and one intermediate service plus the vital air purity test on each occasion. Service visits are also scheduled for the four mobile compressors at a time and location to suit our operational need.”

During each Reavellife service visit, the CompAir engineer undertakes a variety of performance checks, and the replacement of any consumable items. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service then receives a full report of the condition of the machine together with a quotation for any essential repair work required. Next-day priority delivery of breakdown parts, including a twenty percent cost saving is assured, as CompAir Reavell guarantees it can fulfil 85% of all parts orders from stock.

Keen to ensure rapid mobilisation of fire crews with the most advanced technology available, Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service continues to invest in its infrastructure. In recent years this has included the supply of a new CompAir compressor at its newly built Newmarket Station.

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