News

Our new Medium Rescue Pumps

Side view of our new Medium Rescue Pump

Six of our fire stations have now received our new MRPs. They are Torquay, Taunton Crownhill, Danes Castle, Bridgwater, and Camels Head. This marks the start of our 10-year replacement programme for MRPs throughout our two counties and is part of our continual investment into our fleet. The programme ensures that we have fit-for-purpose vehicles that match our resources to risk within our communities.  

These new vehicles are fitted with the latest technology and equipment. Importantly, they have had input from operational colleagues throughout their development. 

Watch Manager, James Tribble from Torquay said: “Red Watch were very impressed with all the new equipment on the MRPs. It’s good to see investment where it matters. The battery-operated tools, airbags, and stabilisation equipment will save valuable time at an incident and will also free up an operational role that is often lost at Road Traffic Incidents (RTC’s) incidents.

“The benefit to the public is this will mean quicker, quieter rescues as they will not have loud petrol engines screaming in the background. The welfare and comfort of firefighters riding in the appliance have greatly improved. The new hose reels will get the most use and be ultra-effective on a wider range of incidents.”

The latest technology 

The MRP pump is built on a Volvo chassis with a fully automatic six-speed gearbox. They have fully adjustable front and rear air suspension which will improve crew comfort and enable improved manual handling. In the cab, there are three complete breathing apparatus (BA) sets, five facemasks, and thermal imaging cameras (TIC). 

In the main body of the MRP we have the latest battery-operated tools. These include a cutter, spreader, and a ram for RTC rescues. As they are battery-operated, they are quick and easy to use, more reliable, and have fewer restrictions than the old hydraulic hoses which needed to be plugged in. Plus, they provide a quieter environment for casualties

Every new MRP has the latest stabilisation struts to hold a vehicle in place during an incident. Plus, a tirfor winch, a device that can be used to lift and pull heavy loads, and a new battery-operated Positive Pressure Ventilation (PPV) fan.

Each vehicle is fitted with a new 52 mm lay flat hose, 70 mm lay flat hose, and 22 mm high-pressure hose reel. These allow us to fight larger fires more effectively with more water. Particularly for wind-driven, large fires or basement fires. 

This pump is also equipped with a full foam system. This is Class A foam that’s suitable for flammable solid materials, as well as Class B foam, suitable for flammable liquids. This is the first time that we've had that capability all together in one fire engine, so it means this vehicle can put out fires for a wider variety of incidents.

On the roof is a folding roof ladder, a first-floor triple extension ladder, and a 135 ladder on the roof.

An overview of the contents of the MRP

Ross Phillips from our fleet research and development department gives a tour of the contents within an MRP.

Transcript of the video

Grey

Hello everybody my name is Ross Phillips, and I work in the research and development department, and I've been involved in developing the specification for our new medium rescue pumps.

The medium rescue pump is built on a Volvo chassis. It has a fully automatic six-speed gearbox, and I'm going to show you around some of the features of the appliance today.

In the near side front locker, we have equipment such as long-handled tools, disrobe equipment, petrol, axes, hammers, and tripods.

In particular, down at the bottom here, we've got the Services' new light portable pump which is a Godiva 8/5, and the new battery-operated positive pressure ventilation fan. Here in the middle locker, we have water safety equipment, decon equipment, and some ropes. Up here are either gas-type suits or in this case the bariatric stretcher.

In the water locker here at the back we've got the chimney equipment, fog spike, some salvage sheets, and in particular the new hoses. So 52 mm lay flat, and 22 mm high-pressure hose reel. Both are coloured yellow for easy identification, and what these allow us to do is fight larger fires more effectively with more water. So particularly for wind-driven, high-fire loading or basement fires.

So this is the nearside rear locker, and here we've got 70 mm lay flat hose, control dividing breeches, ground monitor and various other pieces of water equipment.  Another 22 mm hose reel and a whole new suite of branches.

In the middle locker here, we've got dedicated storage for the driver and the Officer in Charge's (OIC's) fire kit. We put it on this side because this is usually the safe side doing a fend-off situation. Also on this side, we've got stowage along with various bits of other equipment, the Makita drills, lighting etc.

This little locker here has got Breathing Apparatus (BA) cylinders.

And then the Road Traffic Collision (RTC) locker has the full range of Weber hydraulic equipment. So battery-operated hydraulic rescue equipment, dedicated spreader, cutter, and on the other side of the pull-out board a ram.

Every new appliance now has the new stabilisation struts, these are made by Holmatro and replace stab fast. The next shelf up contains the control equipment for the high-pressure lifting bags, which are located here. So the lifted bags, again every MRP will now have lifting bags and they provide the capability to perform a snatch rescue from under a heavy load.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and that sort of thing up there. The rest of the Makita equipment is in here, and as you can see the trauma pack, and the defibrillator up there on that top shelf.

This is the pump it's a Godiva 3010 which means it's a pump capable of moving 3,000 litres of water every minute at 10 bar. It's got a few nice little new features. So these include the rapid crank handles, so we can open and close the deliveries much more quickly than we have previously. They've also got a pressure relief system built in. There is an inbuilt collecting head which means that we can feed water directly into the volute. So there's no need to add extra equipment here, which makes us quicker, and more efficient. 

There is an automatic cooling loop which means that the pump will cool itself automatically, again no need for extra intervention from the operator, as well as an automatic hydrant tank valve. So this vehicle will keep itself topped up with firefighting water as long as we're working from a hydrant or other pressure-fed supply. It's also got the ability to pause the power take-off. So what that essentially means is that from the operator's position, we can switch the power on and off to the pump. Previously we've had to have gone to the driver's position and climbed into the truck to be able to do that. So again that makes us faster and more efficient. This pump is also equipped with a full foam system so this is capable of making both Class A, 
so that's foam suitable for flammable solid materials, as well as Class B foam, which is foam suitable for flammable liquids. This is the first time we've had that capability together in one vehicle. 

So it means that this vehicle is more adaptable and is able to put out fires for a more wide-ranging variety of incidents.