Firefighters all fired up about new facilities at Copenhagen Airport

Over the past 18 months, the training facilities for the airport's 70 firefighters have been upgraded with better facilities for the firefighters to, among other things, practice firefighting in aircraft mock-ups. A new mock-up now adorns the fire drill area, featuring a state-of-the-art control system with options to control the amount of flames produced and the area of the aircraft in which the fire is to break out. The new mock-up uses gas as its fuel source, whereas previous models used jet fuel. This and a number of other new features give the site an advantage when it comes to meeting the increasing number of environmental requirements.

All development and growth must be carried out responsibly
In the development of the new, improved fire drill area, a number of environmental measures were incorporated, all of which play a part in stepping up control of the site’s environmental impact. These measures focus particularly on water consumption, water treatment and the use of gas rather than jet fuel in fire drills. Together, they have led to improved collection of fire extinguishing water, better control of consumption and less environmentally damaging extinguishing methods. CPH's neighbours in Dragør will also feel an improvement as the optimised conditions eliminate the risk of smoke nuisances and provide better soil and ground water protection.   “It is important for us to incorporate both professional and environmental optimisation into all our new buildings and extensions. All airport development and growth must be carried out responsibly,” said Copenhagen Airport COO Kristian Durhuus.

New addition sponsored by mayor
The collaboration between CPH and the surrounding municipalities also plays an important role in the optimisation. The mayor of Dragør was therefore invited to attend the inauguration, sponsoring the new mock-up, which was named 'GreenLiner'. The name was chosen among suggestions entered in a name competition among airport staff and will be painted on the side of the aircraft in the near future.

At the inauguration, the mayor also praised the collaboration and stressed the importance of optimising the airport's facilities:

“We at the municipality of Dragør are delighted to have such strong relations with our closest neighbour, Copenhagen Airport. Particularly valuable to us is the strong relationship between our local emergency service and that of the airport. We have taken advantage of the airport's good training facilities on several occasions. We are very excited about this upgrade with the 'GreenLiner'. It is a great advantage to us in terms of the added attention to the environmental impact of fire drills and the smoke nuisances that we occasionally used to see. I, personally, was extremely honoured to be asked to take part in this inauguration and sponsor the new addition. Congratulations to CPH from the municipality of Dragør.”

Facts

• There are always 17 firefighters on duty around the clock, and the airport's Fire and Rescue department employs 70 firefighters in all.
• Fire and Rescue has a maximum response time of 180 seconds. This is a contributing factor in the airport having one of the highest survivor rates for persons suffering cardiac arrest in Denmark.
• The fire drill site is located in the municipality of Dragør at the southern end of the airport area.
• The height and dimensions of the aircraft mock-up match those of an Airbus A320 and it is fitted with propellers on one wing and jet engines on the other to allow firefighters to practice firefighting on both aircraft types.
• Copenhagen Airport is a national training centre for airport firefighters and is developing an international training academy for firefighters from other European airports.