Space is a precious commodity on any apparatus, especially the kind of vehicles that must be nimble in tight urban spaces or rough rural terrain. That said, there’s no shame in maximizing the smallest of crannies for vital gear, especially lighting equipment that is imperative to nighttime operations. Most will argue you can never have enough lighting, even on the most compact of trucks.
This is where Command Light, a leader in scene lighting, comes in. Over the last few years, the American manufacturer, renowned for its light towers, has introduced some of the most compact and versatile battery-powered lighting on the market with its EOS Rapid Deploy Light and the Command Light Trident Tripod.
Both the EOS and Trident are the only lighting products of its kind that give departments the choice of power source, plus their favorite high-lumen LED.
“Command Light’s segway into battery lighting marks the first time in industry history that fire departments can pair a DeWalt® FLEXVOLT, Makita® XGT, Milwaukee® M28 or LUKAS® EWXT™/E3™ battery with a high-lumen LED made for the fireground,” Command Light President Roger Weinmeister explained.
“We really wanted to create lighting that works with crews’ other battery-operated tools, while delivering even more light than traditional mobile lights. We recognize that mobile lights and work tripods are not new in the market, but LEDs and power sources were always limited. Until now.”
Command Light is following the heels of sister company, Super Vac, which has taken the battery-powered fan market by storm with its concept of utilizing non-proprietary, easy-to-source batteries that can be found at most any local hardware store.
Not only do these lights complement Super Vac’s sought-after fans, but they work with other firefighter rescue tools that utilize the same battery platforms.
Amy Weinmeister
In addition to the four non-proprietary battery options, departments can choose from a variety of LED fixtures from brands like Akron, FRC, FireTech, Tomar, Vision X and Whelen. Together, these options account for nine different tripod lighting options. Meanwhile, the EOS is available with six different fixture choices. Run times vary from 40 minutes to 300 minutes, depending on battery and light head combination.
That said, if a handful of battery-powered lights don’t meet your lighting needs, there’s always light towers. New, compact light towers, specially designed for dunnage areas or high-side aerial compartments, have emerged on the market. Command Light offers the market’s narrowest design with its Shadow (SL) Slim. With a 1.3m reach, this tower nests at 203 mm x 280 mm x 1,600 mm and produces 57,000 lumens with (2) HiViz FireTech FT-MB-2.27 Minibrow LEDs. The SL Slim joins Command Light’s other slim light tower, the Knight Series (KL) Slim, which stows at 305 mm x 330 mm x 1,346 mm, provides 2.3 m reach and delivers 70,000 lumens, also with FireTech fixtures.
Both towers feature Command Light’s patented (US Patent #5303621) movement, which allows the tower to be raised and rotated into endless positions to illuminate dark ditches, mountain slopes and other terrain.
The tower is also able to overhang the side of a vehicle in Command Light’s exclusive streetlight position to light work areas and prevent shadows near the side of the apparatus. Set up is easy. Each tower deploys in less than 15 seconds with the push of a button and stows just as quickly with the unit’s standard one-touch auto-park feature.
Some might argue that light towers are not necessary with the advent of truck-mounted LEDs. Back when LEDs were first introduced, the industry saw fixtures in the 10,000-lumen range. Then, 15,000 and 20,000. And now, some lighting manufacturers tout 30,000 lumens, which is great if those lumens aren’t pointed directly in your crew’s eyes.
But in some cases, that’s exactly what’s happening. Motorists are being blinded as they approach an accident. Firefighters are battling glare on the fireground. And all that bright light is usually wasted, inefficiently directed upon only a fraction of the scene thanks to today’s trend of fixed LED lighting. A light tower turns bright light into usable light simply by gathering, directing and elevating these expensive LEDs, and now all of this can be accomplished in a compact design for space-constrained vehicles.
With so many compact lighting options on the market, it’s important not to let apparatus space prevent you from equipping your crews with proper lighting. After all, firefighters face many obstacles, and seeing shouldn’t be one of them.
Amy Weinmeister
As your department considers its scene lighting needs, think about your environment. What is the usual topography that your crews face? Rocky terrain? Neck-breaking slopes? Plummeting river ravines? Lighting that can be angled certainly has its advantages in these environments.
In urban environments filled with numerous hazards, it’s important to have adequate scene lighting to help crews perform a proper 360 size-up to anticipate scene hazards, like downed lines, missing stairwells, flammable fluids, in-ground pools and more.
Ample scene lighting can also help crews monitor changing conditions, like a building’s structural integrity or evolving smoke color, density, volume and velocity, all which can help incident commanders predict fire behavior. Light can also be used to illuminate doorways, windows and other openings, alerting personnel inside to alternative escape paths.
In short, your scene poses a myriad of challenges, and in the end, it’s not always about how much light you shine on the obstacle. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of directing your LEDs there. That, alone, can be the perfect amount of light — enough to save and protect life. Don’t let the size of your apparatus keep you from equipping your crews with these tools.
