Fire engine

A fire engine is one of many specialized fire suppression apparatuses. A fire engine is designed to pump water using an engine and onboard water supply, which can be replenished via a fire hydrant, water tender or any other available water source by using suction. Engines are also known as pumpers as they are used to pump water onto fires. Their primary purpose is for direct fire suppression, and may carry many tools including ladders, pike poles, axes, fire extinguishers, and ventilating equipment. Engines are normally staffed with at least three people (a captain, an engineer, and a firefighter, and preferably with a second firefighter), to be able to effectively and safely attack a fire.

Fire department vehicles all over the world

Germany

In Germany, die Feuerwehr is primarily organized on a per-town basis, but there are national norms for firefighting equipment, trucks and tactics. Due to the lesser usage of wood in homebuilding and the missing speedlimit on many german highways, accident rescue is an even more common task than fire fighting.

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The most common types of vehicles (which come in different sizes and local variations) are

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• ELW - command vehicle, ranging from sedan to omnibus.
• TSF, KLF - small fire trucks; about every german village has at least one of those
• LF - fire engine carrying a crew of 9, traditionally without a water supply, but modern types do carry one.
• TLF - fire engines with larger water tank but smaller crew
• RW - standardized rescue trucks for accidents and other technical aid
• GW - specialised tool carriers for Hazmat, light, SCUBA supply, divers, etc.
• DL - Ladder, common norm: 23 meters above ground at 12 m from center
• SW - hose carrier. this tends to be the only vehicle with "american-style" pre-coupled hoses that can be deployed while driving
• RTW - Ambulance. Medical services are not provided by the fire departement everywhere, although this arrangement is common in cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more, which are required to maintain a full-time fire fighting force.

The number of normed vehicle types has recently been reduced to 11, but the local variations probably will always exist. Most common of these variants is to combine hydraulic rescue tools with firefighting equipment in a single vehicle.

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Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Fire Services is a force of 8000 plus firefighters serving one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world. They served under the British before 1997 and are equipped much like their counterparts in the United Kingdom. While most cities' high-rise buildings are concentrated to their downtown commercial areas, they are ubiquitous in Hong Kong. Most residential buildings in this very crowded Asian city are more than twenty-stories tall, with some reaching forty or fifty stories. Thanks to strict fire code and the use of non-flammable materials, severe structural fires are rare. The Fire Services department is nonetheless equipped with a significant quantity of hydraulic platforms and possesses some of the tallest ladder platforms in the world. Common fire engines in Hong Kong include:

Related Topics:
1997 - United Kingdom

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• Hydraulic Platforms: Carry out firefighting and rescue at elevated levels
• Major Pump: Basically Type B Water Tenders that provide water supply
• Turtable Ladder: Similar to Hydraulic Platforms but they use telescopic ladders instead of hydraulic platforms and are better suited for high level rescue
• Light Rescue Units: First strike fire appliances, equipped with varieties of rescue equipments
• Major Rescue Units: Also serve as light rescue units but are capable of special missions when teamed up with the rescue tenders
• Mobile Command Units: Field command center
• Rescue Tenders: Perform rescue missions in major disasters
• Hazmat Tenders: Hazardous materials handling
• Hazmat Pods: Equipped with radioactivity detectors, protective aprons and decontaminating tools, Hazmat Pods are used in nuclear/biohazardous incidents.
• Lighting Tenders: Provide lighting
• Hose Appliance: Carry hoses for water relay
• Light Pumping Appliance: Perform pumping or rescue operations when area is inaccessible to major appliances
• Reserve Heavy Pump: Conduct water relay and pumping in remote areas or major fires
• Snorkel: Rescue operations at high level
• Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP): Carry a telescopic ladder and capable of reaching 53m

The following appliances are mainly deployed to the airport and stations close to fuel depots:

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• Foam Tenders
• Bulk Foam Tender
• First Intervention Vehicle: Carries foam and water and capable of discharging 6000 litres per minute
• Jackless Snorkel: Equipped with a piercing nozzle that can pierce through the fuselage of airplanes and discharge foam in cabin. The HKFSD introduced this to prepare for the commencement of the Airbus A380.