London Fire Brigade 209Ft Tower Ladder
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Bulldog
Bulldog
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It certainly looks awful cumbersome getting in out of the basket at both the top and the bottom. The concept may be good but it looks like they certainly need to work on the execution a little bit, it seems like the set up took quite a while and having to add an Takeaway the loading ladder etc. certainly made the operation extremely slow. I realize it was a training demonstration but...
It takes a bit extra time to put into service, but doubling the height is pretty impressive. May not be needed frequently, but when it is it could be a life saver! One more arrow in the LFB's quiver!!
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That is an impressive piece of equipment.
For sure
I assume it’s designed to evacuate large amounts of people from upper floors. Could be interesting on a lower angle deployment, people would be laying down in that evacuation basket. Plus I don’t see any waterway so I guess it’s not designed for any fire suppression. Expensive piece of equipment for a specific need but looks like it was donated so don’t look a gift horse in the mouth!
Bulldog
Bulldog
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Why are you thinking it's donated?
Because it says "Donated By London Freemasons" on the side of the boom.
These aerials are being put into service as a response to the Grenfell Tower fire, where a number of residents were trapped on the upper floors with firefighters unable to reach them in time. With these ladders it would probably have been possible to reach at least some of the victims.
The basic design with the basket is actually a pretty old concept by Magirus. Here’s some footage from 1966/1967, showing the Västerås fire department in Sweden. If you go to 4:40 into it you’ll see an old version of the basket, though this ladder was only a 144 ft one:
The basic design with the basket is actually a pretty old concept by Magirus. Here’s some footage from 1966/1967, showing the Västerås fire department in Sweden. If you go to 4:40 into it you’ll see an old version of the basket, though this ladder was only a 144 ft one:
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Remember that the LFB runs the ladders with two people. Staffing comes from the pumps.
If you have a look at around 0:43sec you can see the waterline in the ladder park below the folded lift.
Normally, turntable ladders in Europe do not have a permanently installed water pipe up to the basket. However, there is often a permanently installed pipe in the top part of the ladder, where a special 30m hose is connected when the ladder is used with a water stream. The reason for this is that a permanently installed water pipe is very heavy, which limits the load on the basket and the outreach of the turntable ladder.
Telescopmasts usually have permanently installed water pipe, as in the US.