Bristol Airport acquires new Oshkosh ARFF

Bristol Airport, in the southwest of England, has added a brand new fire engine to its fleet of ARFF vehicles: an Oshkosh Striker 3.0. Bristol is the first UK airport to take delivery of this third-generation vehicle, which joined its fleet on 18 November.
Bristol Airport’s fire team was, at the time of writing, completing an intensive training course on the new vehicle. The Striker ARFF is a 39-tonne fire vehicle and carries a four-person crew. It has a 700 brake horsepower engine and a top speed of 72mph. The vehicle carries 12,000 litres of water, 1,700 litres of foam and a 7,500 litre-per-minute water pump.
The new vehicle forms part of Bristol Airport’s regular vehicle replacement programme, Matthew Kilyon, deputy chief fire officer at Bristol Airport, confirms.
Graeme Gamble, chief operating officer at Bristol Airport, comments: “Our priority is the safety of passengers and colleagues in all Bristol Airport operations, and we’re delighted to be the first airport in the UK to take delivery of such an advanced fire vehicle.
“The fire and rescue service is a critical part of our operation, and the fire team are permanently on call day and night and ready to respond to any eventuality.
“We wanted to ensure that the new appliance is equipped with the very latest in firefighting technology. A complex environment such as Bristol Airport requires a specially trained fire team with its own specialist equipment and we are delighted to have added the Striker to the airport’s fire vehicle fleet.”
Bristol Airport now has five major foam tenders and maintains three at operational ready-to-go status at all times, with two in reserve. The gateway also has a ‘Domestic’ vehicle and a 4×4 command vehicle for emergencies.
More exactly, the airport has three High Reaching Extendable Turret (HRET) vehicles and two monitors that make up the firefighting fleet. The aim is to have the two HRETs, one monitor and the command vehicle ready to go at all times, supported by the reserve vehicles.
The fleet is operated by a crew of nine available at all times over four different crews, with a total of 46 personnel being on-strength. The Domestic vehicle is crewed when required to respond to incidents.
The new vehicle is replacing one of five foam tenders.
As of this time, there are no planned changes to capability, Kilyon says. However, the rest of the fleet remains on a replacement programme and will be updated when required, he adds.