Aircraft rescue and firefighting

Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) is a special category of firefighting that involves the response, hazard mitigation, evacuation and possible rescue of passengers and crew of an aircraft involved in (typically) an airport ground emergency.

Airports may have regulatory oversight by an arm of their individual national governments or voluntarily under standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Due to the mass casualty potential of an aviation emergency, the speed with which emergency response equipment and personnel arrive at the scene of the emergency is of paramount importance. Their arrival and initial mission to secure the aircraft against all hazards, particularly fire, increases the survivability of the passengers and crew on board. Airport firefighters have advanced training in the application of firefighting foams, dry chemical and clean agents used to extinguish burning aviation fuel in and around an aircraft in order to maintain a path for evacuating passengers to exit the fire hazard area. Further, should fire either be encountered in the cabin or extend there from an external fire, the ARFF responders must work to control/extinguish these fires as well.

Standards

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has given standards and recommended practices on rescue fire fighting categories of civil aerodromes.National aviation authorities may have given even further requirements on aerodrome rescue and fire services.

The rescue fire services are based on a critical aircraft based on a statistical analysis of movements (take-offs and landings) on the airport. The aerodrome category is based on the size of the biggest aircraft taking a movement on the aerodrome. In addition, the number of movements of the critical aircraft is calculated, and the category can be decreased by one if the number of movements is lower than the standard describes.

Depending on the airport category, the standards determine the minimum number of rescue fire-fighting vehicles. In addition, requirements are given on the water and foam capacities, discharge rates for foam solutions, and minimum dry chemical powder (complementary agent) amounts, reserve stocks of fire fighting agents, ability to operate on rough terrain, and acceleration of the air crash tenders. The end of each runway has to be achieved in a response time of two minutes, and any part of the movement area has to be achieved in a response time not exceeding three minutes.

Personal protective equipment

Due to the intense radiant heat generated by burning fuels, firefighters wear protective ensembles that are coated with a silvered material to reflect heat away from their bodies, called a fire proximity suit. They also must wear self-contained breathing apparatus to provide a source of clean air, enabling them to work in the presence of smoke or other super-heated gases, such as when making entry into the burning cabin of an aircraft.

Secondary to the hazard mitigation and safe evacuation of ambulatory passengers is the need to perform rescue operations. Passengers unable to extricate themselves must be removed from the aircraft and provided medical care. This process is extremely labor-intensive, requiring both firefighters and support personnel. Due to the nature of a mass casualty incident, rescue workers employ triage to classify the victims and direct their efforts where they can best affect survival.

Subsequent to the emergency being declared under control, the ARFF function reverts to one of protecting the scene, eliminating any peripheral or slowly evolving hazards and assisting to preserve the scene for investigators.

Crash Fire Tender

An airport crash tender (known in some countries as an airport fire appliance) is a specialized fire engine designed for use in aircraft rescue and firefighting at aerodromes, airports, and military air bases.

Airport crash tenders are extremely powerful machines. They offer relatively good acceleration for their size and weight, are able to negotiate rough terrain outside the airport area, carry large capacities of water and fire fighting foam, are fitted with powerful high-capacity pumps and water/foam cannons, and are capable of delivering firefighting media over long distances. They can be mounted on 4x4, 6x6, or even 8x8 wheeled chassis. In order to decrease their turning radius, the 8x8 wheeled unit may have all four front wheels steerable.

Newer airport crash tenders also incorporate twin-agent nozzles/injection systems to inject a stream of Purple-K dry chemical into the AFFF firefighting foam stream, knocking-down the fire faster.Some also have Halotron tanks with handlines for situations that require a clean agent to be utilized. These features give the airport crash tenders a capability to reach an airplane rapidly, and rapidly put out large fires with jet fuel involved.

Some tenders have an elevated extended extinguishing arm, giving a possibility to raise a water/foam cannon into the height of approximately 10 to 20 meters, that can puncture through superficial structures of an aeroplane to fight a fire inside the fuselage.

Some arms have a reinforced nozzle, called a snozzle, that, according to the United States National Transportation Safety Board is a "piercing nozzle on the fire truck that is used to penetrate an airplane's fuselage and dispense AFFF to extinguish fire inside the cabin or cargo area."

Leading Fire Fighting Equipments manufacturer

Rosenbauer is the world’s leading manufacturer of systems for firefighting and disaster protection. Some of its leading CFT's are :

> The Panther

The Rosenbauer PANTHER is one of the most successful, efficient, and variable ARFF vehicles worldwide. Its multi-award-winning design and powerful performance make it the most modern fire fighting vehicle of our time.

Variants : Panther 8x8 , 6x6, 6x6 S, 4x4

> The Escape Stair

> Bufallo

> Rapid Intervention Vehicle (RIV)

>Command Vehicles

Fire Fighting Services in India

ARFF also known as Airport Fire Services (AFS) in India are under Airport Authority of India (AAI). To ensure optimum results and maintain a high standard of safety service, the AAI is making constant efforts for advancement in technology and training.

The most important factors responsible for an effective rescue operation in a survivable aircraft accident are: the training received, the effectiveness of the equipment and the speed with which personnel and equipment designated for rescue and fire fighting purposes can be put into use.

The operational objective of the ARFF is to achieve response time of two minutes not exceeding three minutes (in optimum visibility and surface conditions) to any point of each operational runway and for any other part of the movement area.

Some of the other incidents that ARFF deals with include road incidents in airport, as well as chemical spillages, fires/rescues in airport buildings and special service calls on airport. Firefighters at major airports are specially trained to handle Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) emergencies in coordination with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). However, some incidents, wherever possible are passed onto the local authority/fire services so that the airport crews can return to give fire cover to the aircraft movement at the airport.

The AAI has ACFT Rosenbaur Panther (Austria make) and TATRA T815 (Czech Republic make) in its fleet at all airports. Recently some airports introduced Bharatbenz also to the AFS division

Training and Fitness

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and DGCA directs that all rescue and firefighting personnel shall be properly trained to perform their duties in an efficient manner and shall participate in live fire drills corresponding to the type of aircraft and type of rescue and firefighting equipment being used at the aerodrome. Airport fire fighters specialise in dealing with complex fires and rescues from aircraft. A great deal of their daily routine is spent training and participating in drills for such events. Unlike their local authority counterparts, airport firefighters have to undergo training every five years to remain competent. For the purposes of training personnel, AAI maintains two Fire Training Centres at Delhi and Kolkata.

Every rescue firefighter has to undergo stringent annual Physical Efficiency Test (PET) and Practical Fireman Efficiency Test (PFET) to establish their fitness.

Sources : AIBM, wikipedia, rosenbauer, SkyBary, ICAO