17.09.2007
Copenhagen Airport adds three new fire vehicles

Copenhagen Airport recently took delivery of the first of three brand new fire vehicles. This new vehicle is specially designed for use at airports and is technologically improved in a number of ways.     

The firemen’s faces lit up at the sight of the brand new fire vehicle just delivered from Austria to the Fire and Rescue Service at Copenhagen Airport. The new Rosenbauer Panther C5 6x6 is the largest of the three new fire vehicles Copenhagen Airport has purchased.

Only one engine

The first of its kind in Scandinavia, the fire vehicle is specially designed for use at airports where the authorities require special performance in areas such as accelerating power and top speed.    

“The new Panther fire vehicle is a technologically improved model in a number of areas. Normally, a fire vehicle has two engines: one for the water pump and one for the vehicle itself. A new feature of the Panther is that it has only one engine – a Caterpillar 705 HP – and that means there is room for more water and foam than in our oldest fire vehicles,” said Jens Peter Larsen, fire chief with the Copenhagen Airport Fire and Rescue Department.

A Rosenbauer Panther C5 6x6 can accelerate from zero to 80 km/h in just 26 seconds; it has a top speed of 115 km per hour and weighs 34 tonnes.

Tank holds 12,000 litres

The baptism of fire for the new Panther vehicle took place on the Fire and Rescue Department’s training ground, where a mock-up had been set alight to simulate an aircraft on fire. The first of the Panther’s two monitors extinguished the fire in just a few minutes, with the help of the shorter side hoses.”  

“When we use the monitor at full speed, the tanks are emptied in less than three minutes,” said Larsen. The largest monitor on the vehicle has a throwing length of approximately 90 metres.”   Copenhagen Airport had a quick starter installed on the vehicle: one simple push on a button outside the cab automatically starts up

the engine and turns on the blue flashing light, the radio system and driving lights even before the driver is in his seat. This reduces response times by 16-17 seconds. The maximum response time allowed from the time the alarm sounds until the airport fire service arrives at the site of an incident is three minutes. To meet this requirement, Copenhagen Airport has two fire stations, one at each end of the airport, with staff on duty round the clock. 

More user friendly

An extra feature of the new Panther fire vehicle is the curved windscreen, which gives the driver 240-degree vision.

“The vehicle’s unusual windscreen makes it safer and easier for the driver to gain an overview of the road and the equipment being used. The technical equipment is also more user friendly and easier to navigate, which ensures a more efficient utilisation of the water used for extinguishing,” Larsen explained.

One of the airport’s incident commanders designed the red stripes and the logo on the yellow background, but the colour combination was determined by the authorities.

Copenhagen Airport will take delivery of the last two Rosenbauer Panther C5 6x6 vehicles in the spring of 2008. The investment in the new equipment will total DKK 15 million.