The concept of The Apparatus Architect started as an article that was never published in the articles original form. The article revolved around the concept that a fire department would not think of building a $500,000.00 fire station, addition without the services of a qualified architect. Yet that same fire department would think nothing of spending $800,000.00 on a Tower Ladder without anyone's help or expertise and be at the mercy of the apparatus salesmen. The premise of that article has allowed Tom and I to share our knowledge and expertise to create a variety of functional and cost effective fire apparatus for a variety of fire departments. Consulting services offered by firefighters for firefighters. With our collective back rounds it gives Tom and I the expertise to consult on a variety of Fire Service issues which include but are not limited to:

Tom Shand
Vehicle Ops Contributor
Tom Shand has been a volunteer firefighter for the past 36 years serving with departments in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York State

He has worked as a field engineer for the Insurance Services Office of New York in the Public Protection Department performing municipal fire protection evaluations of fire departments and water supply systems. Tom has worked for the past twenty six years in the fire apparatus industry designing fire apparatus and preparing specifications for fire departments across the county. He is a contributing editor for Fire Apparatus Journal and Firehouse Magazine.

Tom and Mike conduct numerous surveys of fire departments and conduct training classes throughout the country in the areas of fire apparatus design and fire department operations.