RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Randolph emergency personnel will be able to do their jobs more effectively and safely due to their new, cutting-edge fire truck equipped to handle aircraft incidents.
The base fire and emergency services branch recently received a new $750,000 Oshkosh aircraft rescue firefighting vehicle (ARFF), known as the Striker, that can be used for aircraft emergencies. The new truck replaces a 20-year-old model.
The addition of the new truck gives the base's fire and emergency services branch a total of three ARFF vehicles.
The ARFF has the ability to carry 1,500 gallons of water, 500 pounds of dry chemicals and 210 gallons of foam. Perhaps its most unique feature, the truck is equipped with a boom that can elevate to 52 feet and extend 27 feet out. It is also equipped with a nozzle that can pierce the skin of an aircraft to put out a fire. The new truck also features cameras and an infrared radar that can find hot spots in aircraft, even when no flames are visible.
Mark Ledford, Randolph Fire and Emergency Services Branch fire chief, said the new truck gives base firefighters more options in handling aircraft or other installation emergencies.
"The piercing nozzle and sprinkling head can get to fires in aircraft not normally accessible to firefighters," Mr. Ledford said. "The boom can be used for mass decontamination of people during hazardous material situations by putting them under the nozzle and allowing a stream of water to de-contaminate them."
Master Sgt. Clifton Garner, RFES assistant operations chief, said the new truck reduces the possibility that base firefighters will be directly put in harm's way when working an aircraft emergency.
"Where before we would have to put a firefighter in a dangerous area, we can now zoom in on the area in question with a camera," Sergeant Garner said. "A firefighter then sits in the cab with a joystick and zooms in on the area to make a more informed decision without having to put a person in a potentially dangerous area."
The new truck has the capability to discharge both foam/water mixtures and dry chemicals through the boom turret system. On the older ARFF truck, dry chemicals could only be discharged through a hand line staffed by two firefighters. Both vehicles have the function to discharge water/foam mixtures through hand lines, but the new truck has significantly increased capabilities with an increase in the number of available discharges.
"The water and dry chemical are discharged from the same turret at the same time, which gives us greater capability of applying both agents at farther distances," Sergeant Garner said. "By doing this, we eliminate the need of personnel having to man two different lines. We can now dedicate those personnel for rescue and life-saving functions. It gives firefighters more time to extinguish a fire quickly before having to re-service the line."
A bigger cab is another benefit of the new truck, which can hold three firefighters comfortably, Sergeant Garner said.
"We have room to move around in the cab," he said. "When you put three people in a cab who each wear 60 to 80 pounds of gear, it can get cumbersome trying to move around," he said.
Sergeant Garner said base firefighters will be trained to use the new Striker truck.
"All emergency personnel will be able to drive and operate it," he said. "We will use it for practice drills so that all emergency personnel will know how to operate it in a real-world situation. The new technology will enable us to do our jobs effectively."