Fire Engines Photos

This machine has attaended three major fires in the last few days , some surprisingly distant, Hartlepool 30 miles to the North and Whitby 25 miles South (on North Yorkshire FS's patch ). If you google Ceri Oakes Photography in images there are some excellent photos of Whitby fire at Magpie cafe.

Added by Craigw on 05 May 2017.

The Multistar was developed principally to provide German volunteer fire companies with a unit which added an aerial capability at fire stations which could not reasonably justify the expense of having a dedicated ladder or platform.

Otherwise, fires requiring the attendance of an aerial very often suffered long delays before the needed unit turned up.

It has not actually proven very popular in its home market, but units have been exported in small numbers all over the World. I seem to remember that around 120 have been sold in total.

Added by Rob Johnson on 05 May 2017.

Surprised it attended Hartlepool and Whitby as there are closer dedicated aerials at Middlesbrough and SCarborough. Maybe off run.

Added by CraigW on 06 May 2017.

they have not proven popular here either , something to do with reliability, suitability, weight distrubition is also a problem , most have been sold off or passed on to retained stations , they simply are too heavy for a four wheeler , I have seen the magpie cafe photos and it was used as a water tower which is great if you can get access as it has no top arm , its a point and shoot , it has its uses but they are limited and you need to get your gear off before its put up !good photos though and good to see it getting used.

Added by Alan Ramsay on 08 May 2017.

The name CARP means 'Combined Ariel Rescue Pump'..thereby doing away with the aerial at a station...therein lies the problem...when its requested as a pump (which it will be more often than not)..the area that previously had an dedicated aerial loses both its pump and an aerial !

Added by Rick Loudon on 10 May 2017.

And when the service gets busy say due to hill and scrub fires in dry weather it gets used as a pump, yes I have seen them used as a pump at a hill fire rendering a huge area without aerial and rescue capability, it has happened in Scotland just last week, its crazy, because of its design it wouldn't get anywhere near where its needed, its a farce and a dangerous one at that.

Added by Donny Mclean on 12 May 2017.

If it is set in as a pump with twinned feed and all deliveries in use it is going to be a major problem shutting down firefighting operations whilst everything is swapped over then a space found to set it up as an Ariel.

Added by Neal Glover on 12 May 2017.

At Saltburn it has just replaced a normal pump so basically they are getting added capability. AFAIK
Cleveland still has their dedicated aerials.

Added by Craigw on 13 May 2017.

I think the main reason it has not sold well in Germany was that volunteer fire companies can often buy used ladders from professional brigades much more cheaply. These older units are usually fine for relatively occasional use, as long as they are carefully maintained.

Certainly, it is the practice in large cities like Frankfurt to pass older ladders on to local volunteer companies when they are replaced in front line service.

Added by Rob Johnson on 15 May 2017.

CraigW, Middlesborough have lost there aerial due to Cleveland Fire Brigade IRMP. The CARP (above) came in January 2015 and was originally on evaluation to which Cleveland top brass thought it would be a brilliant to use. It sat at Stockton to where it were going to be based as the 2nd pump is going to be replaced by retained crews. The ex Kent one arrived and more evaluation was done however none of these went to any fires. The wholetime crews didnt like them and Saltburn wanted to use it. VX59HGJ (ex HWFRS) was the only aerial in the Cleveland area in 2016. KX59EWF (ex Kent) developed loads of issues and spent considerable time back in Germany and up in Scotland. As a contingency plan Middlesbrough were dual crewing an Aerial. Still by this time the recruitment of a retained crew at Stockton was still ongoing and ended up that they didnt go on the run till April 2016. Still the CARP (EWF)was planned to go on the run back in April 2017 but the crew were still not competent on its use. It went on the run at the begining of the May.
With regards to the comment that Scarborough were off the run for that fire was untrue. That first fire at Whitby was a Make Pumps 8 and Aerials 2. Scarboroughs ALP did attend along with Saltburns CARP and Skelton as a supporting appliance.


Added by Graham Mitchell on 25 May 2017.

Literally as I was reading the last comment the Tuxedo Royale ship fire was on the TV news and Cleveland's venerable Scania/Angloco/Bronto ALP G727UNK appeared on the screen.


Added by Craigw on 02 June 2017.

I have experienced these god awful appliances and thankfully our two were binned with only a few jobs u delayed their belt, they have very very limited use, they require the right conditions for the appliance of other the incident for use, very high maintenance, very unreliable, low loading means all the kit that should have been fitted when new is not etc etc, so we got some shots of it being used as a water tower, big deal, other brigades have all disposed of these, that should say it all

Added by on 08 June 2017.

Having seen this (or the other) Carp at the Preston Hall rally last weekend..I have to say I was very surprised to see it only has one outrigger 'H frame' jack on each side behind the cab..there are four more jacks mounted in pairs on the chassis (front and rear) this has the effect I would have thought ? of making the whole set up less stable at each corner (a bit like a bicycle with stabilisers )
When I did my TL operators course many moons ago it was drummed into us that the most stable position with the ladder up was 'in line with the chassis'..over the cab most stable and out the rear next most stable (weight of chassis having an effect)...a jack at each corner made it sit solidly ..although if you worked over a jack then the opposite one was 'unberdended' but on training the ladder towards that unburdended jack the weight was transferred back towards that jack !

Having looked at this Carp in detail I would personally be very wary about working over a corner where there is effectively no jack !

Then of course there's the fact it has a pull out staircase added at the rear to allow the pump operator to reach the controls !...shame they can't reach the kit at the top of the side lockers !

Added by Rick Loudon on 02 July 2017.

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