18 August 2009
Leeds Bradford International Airport today (Tuesday 18th August, 2009) unveiled a new state of the art airport fire appliance which will join the existing fleet of three major appliances.
The Rosenbauer Panther CA5 6 x 6 vehicle can accommodate up to four fire fighters with equipment and holds 12,500 litres of water and 1,500 litres of foam.
The Fire Appliance was manufactured in Austria by Rosenbauer but supplied by local firm Angloco from Batley, West Yorkshire. Angloco is Britain’s longest established builder of fire vehicles and is Rosenbauer’s partner in the UK.
The Appliance is equipped with 12,500 litres of water, 1,500 litres of Foam, 250KG of dry powder & 100KG BCF fire fighting agents. The Panther weighs in at 36 tonnes & can accelerate from 0-50 MPH in under 30 seconds.
The roof monitor has a jet throw of 85 meters of aspirated foam & a smaller bumper mounted monitor which can produce non aspirated foam with a distance of 45 meters.
The vehicle also has a “forward looking infra red camera” (FLIR) which locates hot spots on an aircraft and enables a driver to respond in low visibility conditions.
Ray Booth, LBIA Fire & Rescue Manager, said “This is a welcome addition to our existing fleet of fire fighting appliances and is amongst the most modern of its kind in the industry. We take the safety of our passengers very seriously and therefore chose this appliance due to its excellent track record for reliability.”
The appliance is now operational following crew familiarisation.
Original article taken from LBIA website