Encyclopedia
A
fire apparatus,
fire engine or
fire truck usually refers to a vehicle designed to fight
fires. Although civilians may use the terms
fire truck and
fire engine interchangeably, to an emergency worker, the words represent different types of
fire fighting apparatus, the proper generic term is fire apparatus.
Fire engine
A
fire engine is designed to pump
water using an
engine, which can be obtained via a on board water supply,
fire hydrant,
water tender or any other available water source by using suction.
According to the
Oxford English Dictionary is a dictionary [i] published by the Oxford University Press [i] , an ...
, the term
fire engine was first used in the
17th century, in exactly the same sense it has now, "a machine for throwing water to extinguish fires".
Engines are also known as
pumpers as they are used to pump water onto fires. There are several configurations of fire engines relating to the position of the pump operating panel including top, side, front and rear mount. On occasion, fire engines have also been used as
water cannons for
crowd control. The pumpers may carry some amounts of water, but they may rely also on fire hydrants and water tenders.
The primary purpose of the engines is for direct fire suppression. They may carry many tools including
ladders,
pike poles,
axes,
Halligans,
fire extinguishers, and ventilating equipment.
Today, an engine can be a real multi-purpose vehicle carrying professionals and equipment for fire fighting, rescue tasks, first response missions etc. There is not necessarily a clear border between an engine and a fire truck or a rescue unit . The
New York City Fire Department was the first to introduce the "squad" concept for an engine and developed the "rescue pumper." A typical FDNY squad has a 500 U. S. gallon water tank and specialized rescue equipment, but carries a reduced amount of hose compared to a standard engine. Since its introduction in New York, several other U. S. cities have adopted the concept.
Fire truck
A
fire truck is differentiated from a fire engine in that it has no onboard water supply.
Fire trucks are instead equipped with a mix of long ladders,
hydraulic platforms, additional firefighting equipment, a variety of heavy rescue tools, extrication equipment, and other emergency gear.
Wildland firefighting requires unique vehicles that can climb mountain roads, be self-reliant, and have high clearances for wheels and suspension.
Wildland fire engines and
wildland fire tenders may have lower capacities to carry water, but can go into environments where urban fire trucks would become stuck.
The turntable ladder is the best-known form of fire truck, but there are also rescue squads, floodlight trucks and other specialized units. A "Tiller" truck, a
semi-trailer truck carrying a turntable ladder, requires two drivers. It has separate
steering wheels for front and rear wheels . This truck is often used in areas with narrow streets that prohibit longer single-vehicle trucks from entering. Use of the tiller truck is declining in the
United States; however, some cities, such as
Baltimore, Maryland,
San Francisco, California and
Portland, Oregon, still rely heavily on them.
The term "Tiller" and "Hook and Ladder" are not interchangeable. Truck companies generally operate from ladder trucks. Under the general heading of "ladder truck", there are many types of ladder trucks. Rear mounts, mid-mounts, tower ladders, tillers, and articulating booms are the main types. Generally, ladder trucks carry a wide assortment of ladders and hooks. Ladders have fairly obvious purposes; hooks can be used for a variety of things, but most commonly for pulling
drywall or
plaster walls away from framing members to expose hidden fire, and to allow access for extinguishing same. Hooks can also be used for pulling siding, breaking windows, etc. Technically, any vehicle carrying hooks and ladders could be consideded a "hook and ladder" vehicle.
Telescopic aerial platform ladders can reach heights of over 100 meters . These aerials typically have ladders integrated to a hydraulic boom. A joined additional arm gives the platform an ability to go "up-and-over" or bend over a roof. These aerials are equipped with a control unit, lighting equipment, a fixed water way, power outlets and compressed air outlets. A
stretcher can be transported over the platform. Some units are even operated with remote-controlling in case of dangerous chemical fires.
Other apparatus
There are also rescue/medical companies with their own distinctive vehicles, including
ambulances and
heavy rescue or support trucks. A
quint, or quintuple combination pumper, functions as a mix of an engine and a truck by carrying its own water and pump like an engine as well as elevating ladders and more equipment like a truck. The quint carries the 5 main things between a fire engine and an aerial ladder truck: a pump, a water tank, hoses, an aerial ladder, and ground ladders.
In the United States these are most often found on the East Coast, or where staffing levels are not high enough for multiple vehicles.
In some communities a fire apparatus, often a Paramedic Engine, will be used to carry
paramedics or
EMTs to medical emergencies because of their faster response times due to forward staging in the city compared to ambulances coming from hospitals. This sometimes puzzles people who see a fire apparatus race past but do not see any fire, but medical calls often outnumber fire calls for such departments.
In heavily forested areas, a special kind of fire truck known as a brush truck is used. They are usually trucks with off-road capabilities for traversing rough terrain in order to reach the fire.
Crew assignment
Engines are normally staffed with at least three people - an officer, a driver who usually operates the pump, and a firefighter. Preferably, an engine will carry a second firefighter, to increase effectiveness in safely attacking a fire. In some countries, such as
Finland, an engine carries the unit leader, an engineer and one or two pairs of firefighters. Since aggressive smoke diving takes places in a very hot and hostile environment with high risks, fire fighters work as pairs, and at least one more pair of divers is needed on scene for the safety and shifting.
In the United States,
firefighters are generally deployed into fire companies specializing in certain tasks. Most common are engine companies and ladder, or "truck", companies. In addition, large cities frequently staff rescue companies. By definition, each company is led by an officer who commands several firefighters. Staffing of fire companies varies by jurisdiction and frequently by company type. In large cities, fire company staffing may vary from as few as three to as many as six personnel.
In the
United Kingdom, firefighters are arranged in "brigades" usually at county level. These are divided into stations, which range in size but in almost every instance have at least one "pump." In addition, general purpose engine stations may have specialist vehicles such as turntable ladders, hydraulic platforms, foam tenders, etc. The number of personnel at a station varies depending on the size of the station and whether it is full time, day manned or retained. Generally, the crew of an average sized "pump" is around 5.
Brief history of firefighting equipment
Ctesibius of Alexandria is credited with inventing the first fire pump around the second century B.C. The fire pump was reinvented in Europe during the 1500s, reportedly used in
Augsburg in 1518 and
Nuremberg in 1657. A book of 1655 inventions mentions a steam engine pump used to "raise a column of water 40 feet," but there was no mention of whether it was portable.
Colonial laws in America required each house to have a bucket of water on the front stoop in case of fire, for the initial "bucket brigade" that would throw the water at fires.
Philadelphia obtained a hand-pumped fire engine in 1719, years after
Boston's 1654 model appeared there, made by Joseph Jencks, but before New York's two engines arrived from London.
By 1730, Newham, in London, had made successful fire engines; the first used in
New York City were of his make . The amount of manpower and skill necessary for firefighting prompted the institution of an organized fire company by
Benjamin Franklin in 1737. Thomas Lote built the first fire engine made in America in 1743.
The first fire engine in which steam was used was that of John Braithwaite in 1829; Ericsson made a similar one in New York in 1840.
John Ericsson is credited with building the first American steam-powered fire engine.
Until the mid-
19th Century most fire engines were maneuvered by men, but the introduction of horse-drawn fire engines considerably improved the response time to incidents. The first self-propelled steam engine was built in New York in 1841. It was the target of
sabotage by firefighters and its use was discontinued, and motorized fire engines did not become commonplace until the early
20th Century.
For many years firefighters sat on the sides of the fire engines, or even stood on the rear of the vehicles, exposed to the elements. While this arrangement enhanced response time, it proved to be both uncomfortable and dangerous , and today nearly all fire engines have fully enclosed seatings for their crews.
Pumpers
Early pumpers used cisterns as a source of water. Water was later put into wooden pipes under the streets and a "fire plug" was pulled out of the top of the pipe when a suction hose was to be inserted. Later systems incorporated pressurized fire hydrants, where the pressure was increased when a fire alarm was sounded. This was found to be harmful to the system, and unreliable, and today's valved hydrant systems are typically kept under pressure at all times, although additional pressure may be added when needed. Pressurized hydrants eliminate much of the work in obtaining water for pumping through the engine and into the attack hoses. Many rural fire engines still rely upon cisterns or other sources for drafting water into the pumps.
Aerials
As buildings grew in height since the late 19th Century, various means of reaching burning tall structures have been devised. At first, manually-extendable ladders were used; as these grew in length these were put onto two large, old-fashioned wheels. When carried by fire engines these ladders had the wheels suspended behind the rear of the vehicle, making it a very distinctive sight which disappeared from some
Commonwealth countries only in recent years.
Before long, the
turntable ladder - which was even longer, mechanically-extendable, and installed directly onto a fire truck - made its appearance. Since the late
1930s, the longest turntable ladders have reached a height of 150 feet , requiring the aforementioned "tiller trucks" to carry such ladders.
After the
Second World War turntable ladders were supplemented by the
aerial platform attached onto a mechanically-bending arm installed onto a fire truck; while these could not reach the height of the turntable ladder, these platforms could extend into previously unreachable "dead corners" of a burning building.
Gallery of fire engines and trucks
See also
External links
