How Pennsylvania-made fire hoses are saving lives across the country

All right, their products hose down danger and their equipment saves lives. But you may not know the life-saving tools carried by fire departments across the country, including right here in Philadelphia, are made here in Pennsylvania. And for this maiden, PA, we head to the northwest part of the state to check out Snaptite Hose. It's a company crafting lifesaving fire equipment, and they've been doing it for half a century. From a single thread, they create some of the toughest hoses in the industry. We've been operating for over 55 years. We've been the innovators in Flatlay Hose. Snaptide Hoses has two factories, one in Erie, the other in Union City, Pennsylvania. And their life-saving products are shipped into city and county fire departments across the country. The process to manufacture is multifaceted going through the looms to to weave the uh fabric and then the extruder where you're pushing rubber through the hose. And we test every hose here. One of those tests is called a burst test. The hose is filled with pressurized water to ensure it meets or surpasses pressure standards. So it again is another way that we ensure that the quality going out of our warehouse is second to none. At least 200 Pennians produce the life-saving product that's even used by the Philadelphia Fire Department. We were the first major fire department in the United States to make a full changeover of our firefighting hose. The main reason with protective covering that allows us to have direct flame contact on the hose without burning through. The Philadelphia Fire Department telling Action News they have a total of 50,000 ft of warrior hose line on all 60 of their engines and regularly train on the hoses. That can often mean the difference between life and death inside of a building. Sometimes these fires the temperatures can range uh up to 2,000°. So this hose line again it's providing us greater safety capability and and ultimately confidence when we're inside of a fire that it's not going to fail us. What does that mean to you to be able to be providing this life-saving equipment? It really gives our employees a sense of purpose and we're focused on delivering the best quality hose that uh that we can make. Yeah. Their hoses can also withstand extreme cold temperatures as well. But so cool that these life-saving products are made right here in Pennsylvania and used by fire departments all across the country. Yeah.