farqueue
16th Jun 2004, 15:16
Airport fire services DO do more than squirt at aircrufts! Their most frequent job is CPR and packing the punter off with the ambos to the emergency ward. Second is engine fires on jets. Structure or bush fires are a welcome change when they can get to one, but they have to drop everything and get back on station for ariving flights. So they are very limited in what they can do other than an aviation emergency, and starting the job, then buggering off is not the way to friendly and smooth relations with other brigades. They are also the lead in a crash or incedent off field and have to deal with the structure fires and well as the aircraft.
Also the units are very different to a standard pump. They are generally, in Aust, a semi ATV type chasis, and have a live foam system and now ultra-hight pressure cutting hand lines. Take a standard fire engine into the bush surounds of many of the air fields and you will have to tow it out! Also the time it takes to get started working with AFFF is about 2 min minimum after you have stopped. And you have ~1000L of water, vs 24000L.
Seems a good idea, but when you get into the details most of the `savings' vanish. What is lost is the fact that the AFRSS is not just a air service, it is also for the general comunity.
Also the units are very different to a standard pump. They are generally, in Aust, a semi ATV type chasis, and have a live foam system and now ultra-hight pressure cutting hand lines. Take a standard fire engine into the bush surounds of many of the air fields and you will have to tow it out! Also the time it takes to get started working with AFFF is about 2 min minimum after you have stopped. And you have ~1000L of water, vs 24000L.
Seems a good idea, but when you get into the details most of the `savings' vanish. What is lost is the fact that the AFRSS is not just a air service, it is also for the general comunity.