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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0338.PDF
338 FLIGHT, 11 March 1955 FOR AIRPORT SAFETY Modern Crash-and-fire Rescue Technique : Some Typical Equipment Reviewed YEAR by year, civil aircraft operations become progres-sively safer, as a result of improved engine, airframeand component design, the steady development of new navigational aids and communications, and the planning and control of air corridors and zones. Nevertheless, accidents still can, and do, happen; this is a fact that has to be faced, and action taken accordingly in the hope of preventing, or at any rate reducing, avoidable injury or loss of life. As insurance against en route emergencies there are such measures as air- borne fire-detection and fire-fighting equipment, the provi- sion of life-jackets and rafts, the use of rearward-facing seats (yet to be widely adopted), and the mandatory incorporation of efficient emergency exits in the fuselage design. Crew- discipline, too, can be a valuable factor, as the actions of stewardesses (in particular) have demonstrated in more than one instance. It is not with en route accidents, however, that we are con-cerned here, but with those which may occur at or near airfields during take-off and landing.* In such cases, while several of theprecautions mentioned above still hold good, a new factor enters, namely, the fire-extinguishing and rescue services provided at theairfield. Briefly to review some typical equipment available for such services is the purpose of this article. Licensed airfields are required to provide and maintain fireand rescue equipment to an approved scale, and at M.T.C.A. airfields the Ministry itself is responsible for the service. Irrespective of the kind of equipment employed, speed inbringing it into action is, obviously, of paramount importance. Modern fire tenders, therefore, are designed for quick starting,lively acceleration, and the ability to travel fast over rough ground. Their equipment, too, is so arranged that it may be brought intouse immediately the vehicle has reached the scene of the crash— sometimes even before it has stopped moving. As the typical severity of a crash fire is almost always due topetrol—or, in the case of some jet aircraft, kerosine—in probably large quantities, water has never been in favour as an extinguish-ing agent (though, as has been authoritatively stated,f water sprays can be used to advantage for protecting rescue and fire-fightingpersonnel from radiated heat, while in some instances straight jets may be used to "sweep" fuel-spills from hazardous areas or tomaintain a rescue lane free from flame). The most commonly used agents for dealing with aircraft fires are carbon dioxide (CO2)and foam, often employed simultaneously. Quite recendy, chloro- bromomethane (CHa Cl Br, commonly contracted to "C.B." or"C.B.M.") has been introduced in this country, with strong claims as to its effectiveness. Two other well known extinguish-ing agents, carbon tetrachloride and methyl bromide, are usually employed in hand extinguishers only. The instant the fire has been brought sufficiently under control,or in the fortunate event of fire not haying broken out at all, the rescue personnel will move in to extricate the occupants, usingwhere necessary such tools as shears, crowbars, grab-hooks and possibly—as shown later in this article—a new power saw.If there has been a fire, it is usual to continue the application of *I.C.A.O. Accident Digest No. 5 shows that of 43 investigatedaccidents which occurred in 1953, 24 were on, or in the vicinity of, airfields.\by E. J. C. Wilbiams, Principal Fire Service Officer, Air Ministry, in a paper before the Institution of Fire Engineers. foam in order to prevent re-ignition of free fuel by any smallresidual fires. One or more members of the team will probably wear heat-resisting clothing, giving protection to the head as weUas to the body. All but the smaller airfield fire tenders are usually providedwith a considerable variety of equipment, for they may at any time be called upon to deal with fires quite unconnected widiaircraft crashes—e.g., in hangars or airport buildings. It is even possible, of course, that they may encounter a formidable com-bination of bodi circumstances—a conflagration arising from an aircraft striking a building. Typical of modern airfield crash-tender design is a vehicle-—illustrated below—lately constructed to the order of overseas air- port authorities by the old-established Greenwich firm of Merry-weather and Sons, Ltd. Drive from a powerful six-cylinder petrol engine is taken to both rear axles of the six-wheel chassis. In the body of the vehicle is a 600 gallon water tank, andanother container carries foam-making compound. The main engine-driven fire pump is permanently connected with the watertank in such a way as to allow water alone to be discharged or to permit the water to be pumped through mechanical foam genera-tors. Coils of canvas hose are carried for delivery of water, and for foam delivery there is a locker on each side of the vehiclecarrying a 100ft length of 21in canvas hose permanently con- nected to the foam generators and terminating in a copper nozzle—or, to use the fire engineer's term, branchpipe. CO? is carried in six 60 lb cylinders accommodated in twobatteries of three in recesses at the rear of the machine. The gas is fed to two reels each carrying 100ft of high-pressure hoseterminating in distributor nozzles. The reels are carried beneath the crew compartment, in which there is a panel giving completecontrol of both foam and CO 3 supplies. There is also provision for a "first-aid" water stream from 180ftof hose carried on a reel at the rear of the vehicle; this water is supplied by a secondary pump driven from a take-off on the mainpump gearbox. "First-aid" foam equipment is also carried, in the form of six two-gallon "Fire Suds" hand extinguishers. Addi-tionally, the appliance is fitted to carry full rescue equipment, together with a stretcher, casualty first-aid kit and two searchlights. Other Merryweather fire-fighting equipment of interest to air-field operators includes "Karbono" CO 2 extinguishers; one par-ticularly useful arrangement consists of five cylinders, with 120ft hose reel and 8ft applicator, mounted on a two-wheeled trailer fortowing behind a motor vehicle. Briefly referred to in the introduction to this article, chloro-bromomethane is a fire-extinguishing agent of comparatively recent introduction and exceptional speed of action. It wasdemonstrated at Bovingdon Airfield in the spring of last year (see Flight, May 28th, 1954) by the General Fire Appliance Co., Ltd.,of London, S.W.I—and since that time the firm has been engaged on a development programme with various forms of C.B.equipment. The company provide C.B. for the Kronenburg fire tendersmanufactured in Holland for NATO airfields. These vehicles are of the "monitor" type, i.e., they carry a universally mountednozzle on the roof of the cab. From this monitor, and from "ground sweeps" (i.e., spray valves low down on the front of thevehicle) and hose lines, a fire can be attacked with foam, foam-fog (finely atomized foam), water-fog, or water alone. Carried in anair-pressurized container, the C.B. is fed through a hose-reel and emerges through a special applicator as a compact cone of The Merryweather airfield tire tender referred to above. Note the crew-compartment at the rear of the driver's cab. Foam and CO, are the principal "armament" of this vehicle. For local use in and about airfield buildings G.F.A. C.B. hand-carriage.
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