AERIAL RESCUE PUMP

Although a new concept for Strathclyde, these appliances have been around for a long time, but all have since been disposed of for various reasons, mostly in England but Fife Fire Brigade did purchase a Water Tender/Hydraulic Platform in 1969 which was a Bedford TKEL with Simon SS50 booms the bodywork of which was done by HCB Angus. The idea didn't seem to take off as they didn't purchase any others.
Only Grampian Fire Brigade still have one on the run which they purchased in 2002 and they term as a Water Tender Aerial Ladder Platform (commonly know as an "All rounder"), this appliance is based on a Scania 94D-300, 2 axle chassis with a rear mounted Bronto F20CFT ALP and bodywork by Angloco the Bronto agent in this country.
Strathclyde Firemaster Ord decided on this concept called Aerial Water Tenders which would be a Firefighting and Safe Working Platform and these would be placed at wholetime and retained stations to supplement Aerials. It was proposed to have 11 AWTs at rural stations and 5 ALPs, 5 HPs and 2 AWTs at the 12 stations which had aerials in 2002.
After demonstrations by various manufacturers it was decided to purchase booms from the Finish company VEMA.
The first Aerial Rescue Pump arrived in the Brigade in April 2005 and is a Scania 94D-300 CP28 cab on a 3 axle chassis with booms by Vema and bodywork by Saxon. The dimensions are 2.5m(8ft 2in) wide same as a standard Rescue Pump, so it could fit into most stations, and for the platform and the same equipment as is carried by a Rescue Pump the length had to be 9.5m(31ft 2in) almost 4 feet longer than a Rescue Pump so a three axle chassis was used with rear steer and this gives it greater manoeuvrability than  the current two axle appliances. It is a Multi purpose appliance which also carries water, foam, rescue tools and ladders. The body work is basically the same as a Rescue Pump but longer although the rear locker is shorter due to the third axle underneath it, the turntable for the platform is behind the crew cab and the cage is housed at the rear of the appliance which is enclosed and accessed via doors on the rear. The appliance has two hose reels fitted in the lockers above the rear axles (One with 3 lengths and one with four). It was only supposed to have one hose reel and when the crews were asked what they wanted on the appliance one of the things they said they would like was two hose reels and the brigade listened to this.
The gross vehicle weight (GVW) when fully laden with water and equipment is 23t. The platform has a working height of 28.5m, outreach of 16m and cage capacity of 280kg. There is full cage to base ladder and the jacking system is H frame. There is full remote radio control of the platform and jacking functions, remote controlled water monitor, CCTV and thermal imaging camera functions. The appliance has a 1500l water tank, 125l foam tank with a modified Godiva 40/10 water pump with round the pump proportioner which can produce three pressures at different rates at the same time, up to 6.5 bar with flow rate of 1500 lpm for hand lines, 40 bar with flow rate of 400 lpm for high pressure hose reels and 14 bar with flow rate of 2400 lpm for the Aerial monitor. The machine carries a 12m ladder, roof ladder and short extension ladder. The 12m ladder which was specially produced for this appliance has a detachable jack bar. 8 cubic metres of stowage space was required for the 542 pieces of equipment which include full fire fighting kit, complete set of hydraulic rescue equipment, water and line rescue equipment, chemical equipment and a selection of other rescue equipment. All of the equipment is stored and secured in the appliance in the accordance with the anthropometrics manual handling information for a 5ft female firefighter (what a mouthful). The 12m ladder comes out on it's beam gantry automatically as soon as the platform moves off it's housing and the gantry with the roof and short extension ladder comes out on it's beam when required. Both beams are then brought down with the normal handle poles.
SF05DHV is the first example of this type of vehicle to be produced and sadly the last vehicle built by Saxon Specialist Vehicles, of Sandback, Cheshire who were one of the United Kingdom's manufacturers of fire appliances. Following the sale of Saxon's parent company's main business in 2004, and in the absence of a buyer, Saxon announced in December 2004 that it would cease trading on 23rd March 2005. The contract for the remaining appliances (maximum of 20 in total) has been placed with Vema Lifts and John Dennis Coachworks (JDC). An order has been placed for an additional four ARPs to be delivered before 31st March 2006.
The next four ARPs MK2s have been delivered and have  undergone crew training and the first one went on the run at Yorkhill on Thursday 27th July 2006, some changes have been made to the original MK1 in the form of improvements, some of which were suggested by the crews at Polmadie. One improvement is the 12m ladder has a jack bar fitted which is the width of the ladder and has 2 detachable ends fitted when it is used. Each of the MK2 ARPs cost £386,755.
There are another four MKIII  ARPs in build and these are expected to be delivered in Jan/Feb 2007.
Strathclyde have ordered another four MKIII  ARPs to be delivered early in 2008.
Strathclyde plan to have a fleet of 18 ARPs. (September 2006)
With the tank full the fully laden weight of the MKI 23.75 tons and the MKII is 22.5 tons.
The MKIII will have it's water tank in the sub frame to give greater locker space and as a result will not have a drive shaft to the pump and the pump will be a Hydraulic driven one. This means the pump can be mounted anywhere and plumbed to the outlets which can also be anywhere although they will still be at the rear as normal. There will also be more through lockers.
The 08 plate ARPs are the Mark IV variant which has a larger fuel tank in the form of a Euro 4 fuel tank and the only other differences with the Mark III are just minor ones. The 08 plates also have "Metal Micky" CCTV cameras permanently mounted on the cage at the nearside as there is no storage space in the appliance.
The Brigade will be getting more ARPs although it has not been decided in which financial year. I don't know where they will be going but it is possible they might go to some of the stations highlighted in Jeff Ord's book "Beyond First Impressions".
January 2010 Scoop Stretchers were provided on the top section of the nearside ladder gantry, to aid in the recovery of casualties from height using the cage.
The replacement ARP for SF05DHV has arrived and is registered SF59CYP, it was being used by the Brigade Training School and is at Clydebank at present (March 2010) while SF06GCV is away back to Finland for repair and its final destination has not yet been decided. It is a Mark IV but with only minor changes like the warning lights now have controls at the back of the machine as you can't get into the cab when it is jacked up.
 

Combination Aerial Rescue Pump (CARP)

Taken from a presentation by Iain Morris, Head of Technical Support and Logistics, Strathclyde FRS 

In 2002 I was tasked with reviewing the performance of all “combination type” vehicles on the market to understand how Strathclyde FRS might benefit from having them in our fleet. Now the “Combi” is not a new idea, it is at least 30 years old, and therefore there were a number of vehicles we could look at, both on the run for several years and being marketed by various manufacturers. Unfortunately, the budget didn’t stretch to Hong Kong where I understand they have been using Combi’s very successfully for several years.
Following the review, we came to two conclusions: firstly, the Combi had enormous potential to increase cover, improve safety and reduce costs for Strathclyde FRS and secondly, we had not seen a vehicle that completely matched our requirements.
I was therefore tasked with developing a specification for a Combi that did just that.
After a lot of consultation and input from my colleagues from all over the brigade, and measuring a lot of our stations, we developed the following spec:
Our first obstacle when we went to the market with the spec was there was no pump available to do the job. Operating the monitor would require up to a maximum of 14 bars, so no other low pressure hose lines could be run from the pump. We talked to every major pump manufacturer we could find and to be honest, generally the reaction was “it couldn’t be done”. I actually thought at one point the project was going to stall, and then we had a meeting with Simon Tudor at Godiva. He came back to us and said he thought it could be done. Not long after, we went to Godiva to see the prototype and subsequently they delivered the first “4010 triple pressure” pump. I believe they are now enjoying some success selling that pump as part of their range.
Our next obstacle was to determine the best chassis for the job. Ideally, we would have liked to stay with a two axle chassis and keep the overall length down, but it soon became clear that to meet the requirement to carry everything we currently carry on our rescue pumps and have the operational envelope of the booms we would need to go to a three axle rear steer chassis. We trialled various chassis around the streets of Glasgow taking them into the narrowest places we could and following routes that we knew our other vehicles currently travel. In the end we decided the best chassis for the job was the Scania with rear wheel steer.
Our next obstacle was to find a platform manufacturer who would work with us to develop exactly what we needed. There was lots of interest from the suppliers and we asked them to give us a presentation on their products and capabilities. There was a clear winner; VEMA, could provide exactly what we were looking for; at a competitive price and, most importantly, we knew we could work with them.
The Mark 1 was built by Saxon Specialist Vehicles and the four Mark 2’s by John Dennis Coachbuilders who are the VEMA UK agents and have done an excellent job for us.
Another important feature of our spec was the ability to vary the jacking positions. We knew this vehicle would be called to streets where the cars were usually double parked and finding an open space would be impossible. The vehicle will allow the jacks to be deployed in any configuration and the software automatically controls the operation envelope, taking the risk of human error out of the equation. The exceptionally light but strong design of the VEMA platform allows us not to have to carry any ballast.
The rescue cage first developed by VEMA was trialled extensively by our platform training instructors and a number of modifications were requested. These were all accepted by VEMA and incorporated into the design. One issue the cage at the rear gave us was the conventional ladder gantries would not allow the ladders off the appliance without lifting the cage out of the way.
Our solution was to work with the supplier to develop two “action” gantries. These are simply powered out to the sides and allow the ladders to be deployed in the normal way. 

Operational/Turnout facts
•               The CARP will be the 1st pump and crewed by 6 at all times
•               It will run all over the city if no other aerials are available
•               A rescue pump replaces it when it is off the run
•               It is exempt from stop duties i.e. we keep it working all the time
•               The PDA’s will not be changed to accommodate the use of CARP’s
•               It will carry the same amount of water as our rescue pumps but will not carry bulk foam 

Financial and Operational benefits
Making the change to include these types of vehicles in our fleet was only done after rigorous financial examination. I am pleased to report that the business case for the change has revealed the following:
•               144 fire fighters will be released and re-established in the following areas:
•               New rescue training school (USAR etc)
•               Dedicated water rescue units operating on the Clyde
•               Increased community safety officers
•               Additional training officers
•               Increased fire investigation unit
•               Approximately £1.2million year on year saving
•               In addition a further £160k will be released from the fleet replacement programme with a CARP replacing 1 pump and 1 high reach in every high reach station
Our statistics show that we have made more platform rescues using the CARP’s in the first twelve months than we have using all of our other platforms combined over the last five years.
This is obviously due to the CARP being on site first and the OIC having the option to deploy the platform. We have encouraged them to look to deploy the platform rather than ladders wherever possible. As you all know, we are not exempt from the new Working at Height legislation and these vehicles clearly make it safer for our staff to work at height.
What I have described is how our Mark1 and Mark2’s operate. We have already ordered four more CARP Mark3’s from John Dennis Coachbuilders. These incorporate improvements that we have developed through use in the field and feed back from the users which will help improve the vehicles even further. We are also in discussion with John Dennis Coachbuilders and VEMA about the Mark4.
“JohnDennis Coachbuilders have done an excellent job for us.”
I would just like to say, that we developed this vehicle for Strathclyde FRS and although we think it is an excellent tool, it may or may not be appropriate for other brigades. I would not underestimate the resources required in developing a vehicle like this but as you can see, the benefits to the brigade, our staff and the rate payers is outstanding. 

Vehicle                                                                   Required                Actual

• Maximum length                                                9.5m                        9.5m
• Maximum height                                                3.7m                        3.67m
• Maximum weight                                                26 tonnes               22.5 tonnes
• Must carry all the equipment (475 items)
  we currently carry on our rescue pumps,
  so minimum stowage volume                           8.8m³                                  9.3m³ 

Booms
• Minimum working height                                 26m                         28.5m
• Minimum outreach                                            14m                         l6.5m
• Minimum cage load                                           270kg                      280kg 

Pump Operation
• Aerial monitor                                                                                    Achieved
• Three low pressure outlets                                                              Achieved
• Two hose reels                                                                                   Achieved
• 1500 lpm at 6.5 bar for three deliveries                                            Achieved
• 2,400 lpm at 14 bar — monitor and                                                  Achieved
• 3000 lpm at 7 bar and                                                                         Achieved
• 125 lpm at 25 bar for each hose reel                                                 Achieved

(From John Dennis Coachbuilders 'First on the Scene' leaflet)
(Iain Morris is currently Deputy Director of Operations at Strathclyde Fire and Rescue. November 2008)

Equipment carried on an Aerial Rescue Pump

Plus PPE and BA equipment
(The above equipment list was supplied by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue)

SF05DHV has returned to the Brigade and is a write off and will be utilised for spare parts. Two aerials will be kept and placed at strategic places in the Brigade (whatever that means), the 52 reg Scania Series 4 ALP presently at Cowcaddens and the P reg Volvo ALP at Maryhill. (2/7/2008).

Photos of Aerial Rescue Pump

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