Light Tanker Concept

[highcountrytimber]

For a urban department this would ideal for small fire fast responses.

[66sawman]

I have seen alot more of the "old school KISS" stuff in workshops so for the tech phobes get over it, there are redundancies built in. I am not sure how long the near side touch screen will work however due to heat damage. Also seeing the crew will work from the cab a cage of some sort would be nice to add greater protection from widow makers etc. Great Job guys, I'd love to work off one.

[66sawman]

I find the comments here about the problems with this concept vehicle are that you are working out of the cab hilarious, in my 22 years of firefighting I have seen alot of crews do most of the firefighting from the rear crew area, not on the ground. All I see this truck doing is giving an even safer way to fight fires from the truck. It doesn't mean you have to thou, it is a safer option than a rear crew area. For all the tech phobes, get over it, redundancies are inplace.

[Breaker588]

all i can say is it looks good on a great day. but ihave to say (even though im not cfa, im an rfs member) i wouldnt like to be at a big fire in one of them, id prefer a pump not related to the trucks engine, less computers, while fighting fires from the cabin is a good idea, itd be often not practical.. good work but im sorry to say its not something id like to be fighting fires from sorry

[Commandingtripod]

These trucks are interesting, though I wouldn't like them to strip the 2.4 and 3.4Cs from the fleet entirely, these ones supplementing the existing vehicles by tackling smaller but faster moving running grass and scrub fires would work pretty perfectly, frees up the larger trucks for work elsewhere.

[Daroneji]

the more technology thrown into appliances, the less reliability they become. many Toyota's owned 4x4's by brigades are being swapped over to nissan because of the technology the toyota now has. Don't go down this path for tankers, it doesn't work even though it sounds and looks good

[slammer8913dj]

nice appliance would make a good first response unit to small grass fires but what happens when it gets beyond this trucks capabilities and as stated technology has a tendency of failing at the most impromptu moments not good when you have a firestorm running you down.

[salingerandrew]

I also wonder how easy is the touch screen to use? Also what about crew changeover at the start of a big bushfire. We have had it where the chang over crew isnt a local crew because all the locals are already in the thick of the action. Will there be training for all brigades to learn how to use this truck? i fear that we may lose trucks and lives if crews cant get their head around how this truck works.

[301whitehall]

0:30 ssiicckk. and thats coming from a person that HATES euro firetrucks

[truck501]

OUTSTANDING ......... but need to lift the SUSPENSION 6 inches or so and that will give better ground clearance ......but verry verry good work ,,,

[laesperanza15]

Whats good on this engine:

color white red yellow

storage compartement is nice (doors instead of alumium roll down things)

UHPS system

[18AUSSIE4LIFE]

pumpers have the roll down doors and all tankers have alumium

[laesperanza15]

I think that a big enough crew cab is really important, that the fire fighters can put their gear on while going to a structure fire.

If you spend lots of money on an engine, that is even fully packed when new, Remember that the equipment will not get less, but probably more. In this case the personal equipment in the crew cab.

Very funny way to store the helmets.

[xj6001991]

Well its about time some else brought a small size 4wd crew truck into the country

[bundycowboy88]

not a chance, its hard enough getting the younger vols to get their heads around the tankers we've got. this will make fire fighters more dependent on their trucks and technical side of things which could make them venture into furthur dangerous situations. how about you work out how to keep all your pumper tankers out of the workshops before you start thinking about adding more technologies that as we all know will fail!

[salingerandrew]

nice truck but to much technology as a new firefighter and having just been throuh my first major fires i felt alot safer on trucks with only the basic pumping controls consisting of a start/stop button, a throtle and outlet valves. Trucks with button controls became confusing. While its a good idea to work from the safety of the cab i think that there will be trouble with not being able to see exactly what is happening all around the truck when fighting a fast moving grass/scrub/forest fire

[cfaregion14]

the technology is fantastic.. i have been very active in the cfa as a fire fighter for since i was 16. i have worked on all types of tankers including this one. this tanker is very easy to use, it just looks hard. they are building this body on a 2.4C cab scasis. i look forward to it!

[jimduff15]

fires dont change though. if new fire fighters were tought properly, they would not need the new technology. its a very nice vehicle though, i would be happy to work off it :-)

[usebiodiesel]

g,day Joel . To get straight to my point. it was disappointing to see a hand full of aerial water bombers trying there best to stop the inferno. i have been a TA mech. for the civel avation authority years ago. i've had an oppertunity to test a water canon on one of the tenders for the airport. I beleve that these water canons can be fited to chinooks. Joel its Engineers like you that can make it happen...all the best mate.

[212fish212]

this is an excellent concept, however initial instince is that the truck appears very long and has only low clearance. am a big fan of operation from the safety of the cab, out of smoke an heat eliminates past issues with crew comms as well. look forward to seeing it in operations.

[18AUSSIE4LIFE]

oh yer verry nice we could of used that in UFG send it to the 3156 bragade haha

but well done on the truck

[967157550]

woah nice i like how its got that branch up front and on the side that would do well for when you do flash flooding

awsome work on the truck

[gteea]

Brilliant - we'll have one thanks. Engine electronics are reliable, cars have had them for years. Engine break downs are less likely because the engine is so well monitored to prevent a break down in the first place. Having crew sitting in the cab WITH THEIR SEAT BELTS on beats standing on the back anytime particularly chasing a fire head. This concept is a huge step forward in terms of OHS. Drop one off in our shed next week thanks....

[epibiki33]

Whatever happened to the KISS principle? I appreciate the concern shown for crew safety, but feel that by being removed from the actual fire , a feeling of invincibility may pervade the crew and lead to foolhardy actions.What happens if the engine stalls?No water?Although touch screens have been used for years and are relatively robust,they do fail as do the electronics behind them. CFA gear now ,although by comparison with this tanker ,low tech., has proven to be virtually foolproof.

[yandoort]

Very nice! We'll have 2 please - can we have them with leather seats? (Black leather, beige would show the dirt!).

Valid point about the auxiliary pump independent of the engine/computer. We had a motor blow once.

John

(Franklinford)

[Aiya5705]

Truck engine driven pump ! what happens when truck stalls ?-NO WATER, Too much electronics that are doomed to fail, rest of vehicle concept OK but with Aux. driven pump and mechanical operation would be brilliant vehicle, I seem to get the gist that cfavic may not be a firefighter or has not been on a truck for a while ?.

[cfavic]

lol. How dare you! :-) cfavic IS a qualified firefighter (and was on a truck less than a week ago!) But rest assured that many firefighters with much more experience than cfavic are involved with the development of this concept truck. Thanks for the feedback - don't shoot the messenger!

[Aiya5705]

Thanks for laughing at me, accepted, but now that I have your attention questions remain unaswered ; 1. If the truck stalls where is water under pressure coming from ? 2. In the age of reliance on electronics what failsafes are in place ? Why not a lower discharge rate pump that is auxillary driven ? Why not have mechanically adjusted foam system and simple tanker water level gauges ? Make the truck simple with failsafe back ups ! did not fire a shot but I got your attention : (

[cfavic]

As I have said already I am no expert but from what I've heard all your points are being considered by the engineers involved. Perhaps someone directly involved can reply in more detail?

[Aiya5705]

Thanks for the honesty & integerity cfavic, I think engineer interpretation is what got us this vehicle in the first place, as possibly being an end user I have concerns. I say no more on this matter but will watch it's development with a sceptics eye. Ein frandshafdt Aiya

[firechief62]

@Aiya5705

This is not an off-road vehicle, and as such, PTO makes perfect sense...CFA tend to work on the back of the truck anyway. Our current 3 yo RFS Cat 1 has electrical throttle on the pump, but if you activate it from the rear pump panel at the same time as someone does so inside the cabin, you blow the fuse!! There is a mabual backup.

[jesseburn]

i like it, but i think with all the computing on board, like water levels and all of that, there is just to much things to go wrong. are there anyone who thinks the same??

[magentasoot]

Most of our brigade is made up of farmers, not IT experts. I think they may shy away from this. Also I can see it making the younger guys too reliant on the 'Techno' side of this vehicle and as a consequence allowing their skill levels to deteriorate. Why not incorperate the features on this truck to our excisting vehicles? Is everything on the truck run by the computer system and in the event of a roll over will the CS cut out leaving the protection of the truck non existent?

Just wondering.

[monoman1990]

how often are they gonna have to replace that touchscreen? Probably twice a week in summer, with high temps, rough environment and firies banging the crap out of it on the fire ground

[littletombraidergirl]

thats bluddy awsome

[jacob12894736]

Its like in the movies were being replaced by machines! lol at the rakehoe comment!

[zinger91]

nice i wish the nswrfs put this much thought into its tankers

[Commandingtripod]

Interesting idea. The remote mounted branches remind me of airport fire fighting appliances. I should try and get a look at this truck some day.

[ozemergencyproducts]

nice vehicle only if nsw had them is the cfa going to the nfpa1901 standards for lightting??

federal signal

all the way

[lutan1]

I like it!

[geoffreyschmidt]

There's an awful amount of stuff that break, putting the tanker out of operation. I'd be more convinved of its use once it has been on the fireground for a few weeks.

Do the rakehoes come with a joystick too?

[Bobman84]

Shame the CFA don't invest this amount of money and effort in actually replacing the fleet.

Why the need for 5 different tankers across the state?

Has some interesting features none-the-less.

[Rescue000]

That looks like a very good designed truck

[fukawi2]

Wow. Talk about taking the skill out of fire fighting. This is dangerous. Being so easy to use will promote sending people out on this truck without proper training.

[cfavic]

I don't quite see the logic there fukawi2. I don't see why ease of use would result in inadequate training. I do see the possibility of crews feeling they could take more risks as they are protected within the cabin rather than out on the back. But that's something that could be addressed in training. Operators will still need exactly the same skills / knowledge in fire behaviour, decision making and risk assessment as on any other truck. I don't see why that would change.

[fukawi2]

It won't change as far as CFA is concerned. But at a brigade level, especially ones that are struggling for members, they will be much more tempted to take "anyone they can get" and put them on one of these trucks since it's so easy to operate. Don't get me wrong, from a technological point of view, it's first class... But it's dangerous.

[volfirie]

Wow that's cramped.

[cfavic]

It's actually not. You don't get a good impression of space on a video. I'm a big guy and I had all my video gear in there and there was still plenty of room. You should try to look at it in person - it's touring Victoria over the next few weeks.

[fukawi2]

I would love to, but they're bringing it here on a Wednesday when most volunteers are at work. That doesn't work out so well.

[cfavic]

That's a shame. Most people who have seen it in action, including the doubters, have been very impressed.

[bundycowboy88]

lets see how impressed they are when it breaks down. pumper tankers were an great idea as were the patrol supports. till they spent most of their time in the workshops