RESCUE PUMP LADDER
On Thursday the 17th of January, 2002 Strathclyde
Fire Brigade put the first of their new Rescue Pump Ladders on the run at
Dumbarton. This type of appliance will be the new “workhorse” of the brigade
replacing the current Water Tender Ladders and Road Rescue Units. Firemaster
Jeff Ord was of the opinion that in order to maximise effectiveness, rescue kit
must be immediately available at the scene, and not restricted to a limited
number of specially equipped vehicles. Basically he wanted the first machine to
arrive to have all the necessary equipment to start rescue operations
immediately and not have to wait for the arrival of a Road Rescue Unit.
To comply with Manual Handling and Lifting regulations and also to store more
equipment on the appliance slide and tilt shelves were fitted in the lockers.
The ladders on the roof are carried on ladder beam gantries, which does away
with the necessity of anyone having to go onto the roof of the appliance as by
pulling on the poles at the rear of the appliance the gantry comes down to
ground level where the ladder can be lifted up and carried to the scene without
any reaching up to get them. The pump locker has barn doors instead of a roller
shutter (which was liable to jamming by loose gear in the locker). There is a
straight through compartment in the front lockers for the stowage of a spinal
board.
The front and middle lockers on each side carry all the rescue equipment and the
rear lockers on both sides and the pump locker carry the fire fighting
equipment. On the roof are the usual 13.5 metre Lacon ladder, a 10.5 metre 2
section “Home Office” ladder, a 2 section short extension (or hatch ladder) and
a folding roof ladder.
The vehicles are built on Scania chassis-cab units with a 4.3 metre wheelbase,
'active air' suspension, disc brakes all round, ABS and traction control. Having
a design weight of 18 tonnes, they are powered by 9 litre, turbo-charged,
intercooled, direct-injection diesel engines.
The water tank holds 1818 litres and for the first time a separate, stainless
steel, 115 litre foam tank is also fitted. The pump is fitted with a “round the
pump” foam proportioning system which allows foam from this tank mixture to be
discharged through the hose reels or alternatively through an instantaneous
outlet for discharge through a foam branch. If additional foam is required there
is a pick up tube that can be inserted into a drum of foam.
The Rescue Pumps for use by Wholetime crews are new appliances based on Scania
94D-260 chassis with bodywork by Emergency One (UK) on the first thirteen and by
Saxon on the next twenty eight. Unfortunately Saxon have gone out of business
and we will need to wait to see who is going to do the bodywork on future
appliances.
The Rescue Pump Ladders have larger front lockers (there are 4 brackets on the
handle as opposed to the normal 3 on the Water Tender Ladders) and the front
additional part goes straight through whereas in the "Retro Fits" a compartment
the size of a spine board has been fitted to the bulkhead that goes straight
through.
The Rescue Pumps for Retained crews are referred to as “Retro Fits” and are
Series 3 Scania Water Tender Ladders which have been converted at a cost of
£42,000 each by fitting slide and tilt shelves in the lockers,
fitting ladder beam gantries on the roof, replacing the roller shutter on the
pump bay with barn doors with red and white chevrons and removing the roof
access ladders on the rear, full width light bar on cab roof and additional
repeaters on the front grill.
Retro fitting was applied to the M, N and P registered vehicles and now the R, S
and V registrations are being done. Although there are still a number of M
registrations still to be done I think they have moved onto the Series 4
Scanias as they can be done quicker and cheaper as they already have beam
gantries and barn doors.
(April 2005)
The "Y" registered Rescue Pump will be a Scania 94D,
260 bhp fitted with an Alinson World Series gearbox (automatic 6 gear), Traction
Control, ABS, Electronic all disc baking system, Electronic Level Control.......
total fly-by-wire appliance.
All up weight is 14.5 tonnes, 1800 litre water tank, 125 litre integral foam
tank feeding an RTPI and they jewel in the crown is the absolutely brilliant
Godiva 2010 World Series pump.......... fully automatic reciprocating priming
system.
(From a Brigade Driving Instructor April 2002.)
24th May 2006 Strathclyde Fire and Rescue take delivery of 12 Rescue Pumps which will go to Helensburgh, Oban, Dumbarton, Clarkston, Kirkintilloch, Milngavie, Easterhouse, Govan, Maryhill, Castlemilk, Cumbernauld and Kilmarnock at a cost of £142,848 each. These pumps are on a Scania P series chassis with bodywork by John Dennis Coachbuilders. Main differences, radiator, battenburg stripe on cab and lockers, black LED light bar, new station name plate which now has in addition to the station name, the station number and badge of the Council area the station is in. More details to follow once one goes on the run and I get a chance to visit the station.
The 2007 batch consisted of three Rescue Pump Ladders bodied by JDC. These had Polybilt bodywork which is distinguishable by the red mudguard and it is also flush with the bodywork as it is an integral part of it as is the water tank. (The aluminium bodies had a water tank on the chassis and the bodywork was built around it, also the mudguards were separate and stuck out slightly). The BA control board has been moved from the crew cab and is now kept on the inside of the left hand pump locker door, the two standpipe key and bars which were on the insides of these doors are now both kept in the middle near side locker. Two of the pumps were also fitted with a CAFS (Compressed Air Foam System). This foam is fed to the N/S hose reel which is slightly larger in diameter than the normal hose reel and has a special nozzle. There is also a delivery to the left of the 3 instantaneous outlets which has a continental type outlet and there is a length of 70mm hose which attaches to this and has the normal instantaneous coupling at the other end so normal lengths can be attached. There are special branches depending on whether you want to throw the foam or lay it as a blanket. These branches as is the hose reel nozzle do not have any rifling in them as this would break up the foam. The Polybilt bodies and the CAFS pump are for evaluation and the next batch will be back to aluminium bodies and round the pump proportioner pumps. They were allocated to Ayr (CAFS)/Maryhill and Springburn (CAFS) as second appliances.
The 2008 batch consisted of four Rescue Pump Ladders which had aluminium bodies, the bodywork being done by JDC. The four were allocated to Castlemilk/Cowcaddens/Easterhouse and Govan as second appliances. The one going to Easterhouse replacing the last wholetime Water Tender Ladder.
Photos of Rescue Pumps and lockers.