Aircraft rescue and firefighting

An airport fire service is a plant fire that is tailored to the diverse types of accidents that can occur at an airport or in the surrounding area, aligned, and is part of the airport infrastructure.

Tasks and Skills

The airport fire brigade must be grown many different scenarios at airports:

• The most common incident is that an aircraft coming off of a roll-on or take-off and landing runway and slip into the meadow. This is a purely technical applications. It only has to go very fast to get the train again. Noteworthy is that it is over usual assistance missions in road traffic accidents are significantly larger dimensions, in particular the weight is.
• You must provide preventive fire protection if an aircraft for any reason whatsoever must perform an emergency landing. Here, for example, a carpet of foam are applied to derive the frictional heat when landing on the aircraft fuselage to fire (see Fire fighting ) on the plane and especially to prevent the ignition of the fuel. The foam carpet but was not applied to most airports.
• The most difficult case of an actual aircraft accident on the premises of the airport.
• But you have to drive to use even with aircraft accidents outside the airport. Depending on the distance of course it can usually only come at a later stage according to local fire departments in use. Here especially the experience is needed that can not have the standard fire brigade aircraft accidents.
• In return, however, involved at a major emergency, depending on the circumstances and the professional or volunteer fire departments, depending on the alert level, and with equipment in use.
• But the normal fire fighting within the premises is also included when you consider that nobody is at a larger airport always up to 100,000 people, or as many as in an average town living.
• By the way also includes the standard preventative fire protection eg when welding or fire extinguisher inspection of the entire area to do so.

A provision of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) requires that the farthest point of the airport area must be reached in no more than three minutes after the alarm time. To achieve this, often several individual guards must be established. But also to the vehicles then this target extreme requirements.

Staff

As diverse as the tasks has to be consequently also the equipment and the training of the fire fighters. The minimum number of full-time firefighter is prescribed by the Authority, to usually get an even larger number of volunteer fire department members who are drawn from the many airport staff.

Vehicles and Equipment

A large Flugfeldlöschfahrzeug has a motor power up to 800 kW and achieved despite the 40 t total weight of a speed of 120 km / h in 40 s Compared to a normal fire truck has a lot more water (up to 12,000 l) and foaming agent on board, as it in use is not possible to build a Zubringleitung water supply. A fire pump usually has a capacity of 6,000 l / min and required to own a motor with 250 kW, so that the tank with the monitor in two minutes is empty. Such vehicles typically have a crew of one to three man.

Of course, as a supplement some general fire engines as Rüstlöschfahrzeuge or assistance Löschgruppenfahrzeuge and command vehicles, which are adapted in their equipment requirements, exists.

One of the world 's largest manufacturer of airfield fire engines is the Austrian company Rosenbauer.

But also in the personal equipment there because of the increased risks deviations from the usual fire departments. For example, the fire department of the airport Wien- Schwechat has introduced uniforms in pale golden natural fiber design that withstand temperatures up to 1,000 ° C. The uniforms in traditional designs and colors absorb too much to pass at these high temperatures.

Plant fire department and municipal fire department

Most airport fire brigades in Germany are organized as a plant fire and are also performed. Some airport fire brigades are but their order and their status under exclusive jurisdiction for aircraft fire protection and not for the building fire protection, most airport fire services usually provide equally for aircraft fire protection, building fire protection and emergency medical services. The airport fire as Werkfeuerwehr join in recent times, more and more airport fire brigades, in which the municipal fire department, usually associated with a professional fire and be guided by it.

The airport fire service is run as a "normal" fire station and staffed by professional firefighters, thus it is officials of the fire department that service. These officials are usually also supported by operational forces, which can be organized as a volunteer fire department. The integration of these forces is exactly like the professional fire brigades. Exist between the city and the airport Agreement on financing of vehicles, fire fighting and payment of personnel costs. The city takes it to the airport from some tasks and problems. Examples of an airport fire department in the municipal fire department can be found in Dortmund in Dortmund fire brigade or the fire department Brunswick. The fire brigades also take on the education and training of professional firefighters and volunteers firefighters.

Since fire inserts for airport fire departments are not as common, is thus to collect for the forces of the airport fire brigade use the opportunity practice on a regular basis at another fire station fire brigade.

List of airport fire with their own articles

• Dusseldorf airport fire
• Airport fire Frankfurt am Main
• Munich airport fire