Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) is a specialized sector of firefighting because it involves the rapid intervention of a plane involved in some type of emergency. Despite its name, ARFF encompasses a wide range of calls that are not limited to the evacuation of passengers and crew and extinguishment of burning fuel. These include medical emergencies inside the terminal, mass casualties, hazardous materials mitigation, and other nuisance fires/calls. For this reason, many ARFF departments run your typical municipal engine companies and ambulances along with the massive all-wheel drive ARFF vehicles. In North America, Oshkosh, Rosenbauer, E-ONE, KME are the major manufacturers that develop the large ARFF vehicles. Other global ARFF manufactures include Magirus and Rosenbauer. These large rigs are designed much different compared to the city/rural apparatus because burning planes present a unique challenge. Because jet fuel can burn at temperatures exceeding 1500°F, most, if not all ARFF rigs, carry a large amount of water, foam, and other extinguishing agents to put out fires. Many ARFF apparatus have more than one remote controlled monitor to put out fires. Some of them even have high reach extendable turrets to attack a fire from any angle! These specialized turrets can be equipped with a piercing nozzle to penetrate the fuselage of an airplane. ARFF vehicles also need to be fast and nimble to reach the scene in a timely fashion and help evacuate passengers and crew from the affected plane(s). This video demonstrates what ARFF can do! As evident in the video, ARFF rigs are equipped with all wheel drive and can drive upwards of 60 mph! Since the concept of ARFF is really awesome, many in the LFC have proceeded to mimic these rigs despite the inherent challenge of making vehicles with odd shapes and sizes. Below are some of the apparatus and departments that community members have posted. Riverwoods Fire DepartmentFor as long as I can remember, DH has been the premier builder of ARFF, utilizing a wide range of techniques to build the gold standard for cabs with the odd windshield including the 1st and 2nd generation of the Oshkosh Striker. Steven A.If you haven't seen Steven A's work before, he has some gorgeous ARFF apparatus! Chi-City Custom Lego CreationsFollowing in DH's footsteps, Jeff B has made some pretty unique ARFFs as well! NCXJames K operates this ARFF Department with a one-of-a-kind color scheme! Studdsville Fire Department ARFF DivisionOur very own MM has also delved into building custom ARFF, even coming out with his own line of ARFF, the Tiger! Tim JTim J operates Washington Heights Crash Fire Rescue with these apparatus! Castle Beach Fire DepartmentOur own Michael P also operates his own ARFF fleet within Castle Beach. Calvin F.Calvin F operates this large ARFF station for Baybrick. Andrew M.Andrew M has recently delved into the ARFF world by building these two beautiful Oshkosh T-series ARFF rigs! Dylan W. - SFR Station 17Dylan W. operates Studington Fire-Rescue Station 17, one of the ARFF stations located in Studington International Airport. Other ARFF rigs from the communityI have also added links below to some more awesome builders who were unreachable due to unknown reasons. Brian S. Rodney G. Lastly, we have our very own Zak O who was kind enough to send us a throwback to some of his designs from the early 2010s!
At this time, I wanna send a huge thank you to all who made this special happen!
1 Comment
Caleb S.
2/22/2023 07:09:40 pm
I assume this is where we're supposed to comment on the ARFF vehicles, I just want to say that all of the designs are excellent, and I especially liked the 8x8 Panther ARFF near the top.
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