South Australia already have one type of Armoured Firefighting Vehicle. The Fire King, which is built in Bendigo, Victoria has successfully withstood the CSIRO burn-over test for 20 minutes in a 1,000 deg C heat.
The Fire King is a variant of the Australian designed Bushmaster Armoured Personnel Carrier, that is currently in use with the Australian Army overseas.
As Frank Campbell points out, the fire-tankers in current use have to be withdrawn from the fire front when the flames rise above 1 or 2 metres in height. The Armoured Strike Team Vehicles [including the Fire King] are designed with enough protection to enable firefighters to attack the fire.
When will these vehicles be introduced into the Victorian Firefighters arsenal??
Operational Fire King in Service with Forestry SA - 2007 - photo: Graham Bates, page 28, "New Recruits for our Ashes Team."
No comments:
Post a Comment