TO FIGHT MAJOR FIRES

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31985, 12 May 1969, Page 10

TO FIGHT MAJOR FIRES

This fire-fighting weapon has yet to leave the drawingboard but already interest in it is being shown in London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo and New York.

The mini-tank was the idea of the head of the fire service in Frankfurt, Germany, who from 1970 will have to face the prospect of fighting fires involving up to 40,000 gallons of fuel should a jumbo jet catch fire. Existing equipment would be powerless to deal with such a blaze.

The Frankfurt fire-fighting vehicle,.of which the photograph shows a model, consists of a mother vehicle and a remote-controlled, heat-proof mini-tank that plods into the holocaust at 15 miles an hour and opens fire at 80 atmospheres. The fireproof hose that links the mini-tank to its source of supply is 400 feet long. The mother vehicle contains 4000 gallons of water and 400 gallons of foam. Its own “gun turret” has a range of 110 yards and with its two 450-horse-power engines at full throttle it can reach speeds of more than 60 miles | an hour.