CFA PROTOTYPE ULTRA HEAVY TANKERInspired by the NSW RFS equivalent, the CFA has two new “Ultra Heavy Tanker’s” out and doing the rounds in the field. This vehicle has a 9,000-litre water tank with a 1,000lpm pump.
Weight: 22.5 tonnes,
Length: 8.5 meters
Chassis: 6×4 single cab Hino FM2630, 3 seats
Monitor: Front mounted 450lpm, operated from within the cabin
There are several interesting features here, particularly the pull over shelter for the rear crew area.
Picture added on 07 September 2018 at 15:28
These are either 6X6 or 8X4 and have a 12, 000 or 13, 000 liter tank and a 2, 000 LPM pump. The newer ones also carry a folding collapsible dam, similar to the ones which have been in use in the USA for decades. They are mostly on Renault Kerak chassis but some are also on MAN, Scania and Mercedes Actros chassis.
They do not however have crew accommodation, and the standard truck cab and bodywork are protected by a water spray system to keep everything cool in the event a fire gets too close! (The Mistral winds in Southern France can move a brush fire along faster than one of these can move, so this is a necessary precaution.)
Marseille has three Actros 6X6 12, 000 liter tankers, and uses a 1, 000 liter supplementary tank for fire retardant to add to the water in the summer and autumn for brush fires, and fills it with class A foam in the winter and spring for transportation and general structure firefighting.
They also have over 40 Acmat and Unimog 4X4 and 6X6 brush units with tanks ranging from 1, 000 to 7, 000 liters, so their tankers are normally used for replenishment rather than directly for brush fire fighting. Some SIDS, with more sparsely dispersed units, regularly use their big tankers on the brush fires - if and when they can get close enough!
In the US 6x4 conventional cab commercial chassis tankers are to be found at almost every rural and small town fire station. As there are vast areas without hydrants or open water supplies, they are needed at structure fires as well as brush incidents.
These normally have an 11, 350 to 13, 250 liter tank and a 3, 750 LPM pump - although there are a lot of minor variations. They invariably carry a folding dam into which they can very quickly "dump" the entire tank contents, and then leave to seek out a water source to fill up again. This facilitates a water shuttle, which may involve as many as eight or ten tankers at a large fire...
Added by Rob Johnson on 08 September 2018.