Study on the Development of Multi-Purpose Fire Engines through Vehicle Safety Factor Design

Abstract

With the recent rapid economic growth, the construction of high-rise buildings such as new town apartment complexes, residential-commercial complexes, and office buildings has increased. This study thus attempted to develop a multi-purpose fire engine to enhance the response to a fire and rescue efforts in line with the steady increase in the demand for safety in high-rise buildings, through a design that combined techniques that focused on large ladders and a midsized 5-ton fire pump engine. A ladder function was added to the most widely used fire engine, with the design incorporating a maximum ladder height of 20 m for fire suppression and lifesaving. A basket was fitted to the end of the ladder to enable firefighters to safely perform these tasks, while the outrigger was designed to vertically descend to allow ladder work as long as vehicle entry is possible despite illegally parked cars. Based on the chassis of a commercial 5-ton fire engine as a type of conventional midsized pump engine, the result was a multi-purpose fire engine developed for special uses that require both fire pump and ladder functions. The multi-purpose fire engine was designed in consideration of safety factors for the direct rescue of people from buildings using a basket rated for a maximum load of 250 kg, through the application of a boom in addition to the common fire pump. It is expected that after their rapid arrival at the scene of a fire, such multi-purpose fire engines could be used for firefighting or lifesaving at relatively low 2-6-story buildings. It is anticipated that the present investigation and other relevant studies will allow the application of this novel design to various other vehicle types such as water tanks, chemical tanks, and rescue vehicles.